Characterization and electromechanical performance of cellulose–chitosan blendelectro-active paper

Abstract

Cellulose-based electro-active paper (EAPap) has been reported as a smart material thathas merits in terms of light weight, dry condition, biodegradability, sustainability, largedisplacement output and low actuation voltage. However, its actuator performance isvery sensitive to humidity and degrades with time. To solve these drawbacks,we introduce an EAPap actuator made with cellulose and chitosan blend films.Cellulose–chitosan blend films were prepared by dissolving the polymers in trifluoroaceticacid as a co-solvent followed by spin-coating onto glass substrates. A bendingEAPap actuator is made by depositing thin gold electrodes on both sides of thecellulose–chitosan films. Characteristics of these blend films are performed by FT-IR, XRD,TGA, SEM and a pull test. The electromechanical performance of the EAPapactuator is evaluated in terms of free bending displacement with respect to theactuation frequency, voltage, time variation and humidity levels. Results showthat this chitosan–cellulose-based EAPap actuator is less sensitive to humidity:it shows a large bending displacement (about 4.1 mm) and long lifetime (morethan 9 h) at room humidity conditions. It indicates that this chitosan–celluloseEAPap is promising for many biomimetic applications in the foreseeable future.