Dielectric elastomer actuators based on stretchable and self-healable hydrogel electrodes.

Yang Gao,Kuan Ju,Bo Qian,Danhquang Tran,Jin Li,Xiaoliang Fang

doi:10.1098/rsos.182145

Abstract

Dielectric elastomer actuator (DEA) based on dielectric elastomer holds promising applications in soft robotics. Compliant electrodes with large stretchability and high electrical conductivity are the vital components for the DEAs. In this study, a type of DEA was developed using carbon nanotube/polyvinyl alcohol (CNT/PVA) hydrogel electrodes. The CNT/PVA hydrogel electrodes demonstrate a stretchability up to 200% with a small relative resistance change of approximately 1.2, and a self-healing capability. The areal strain of the DEA based on the CNT/PVA hydrogel electrodes is more than 40%, much higher than the ones based on pure PVA electrodes.

Highlights

Rigid-bodied robots have made great progress in the field of automatically assembling and manufacturing [1,2,3]
The fabrication procedure of the Dielectric elastomer actuator (DEA) based on carbon nanotube/ polyvinyl alcohol (CNT/polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)) hydrogel electrodes is shown in figure 1
Infilling of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) seen from electronic supplementary material, figure S1 and S2 improves electrical conductivity of PVA up to approximately 0.71 S cm−1 higher than that of pure PVA, while the CNTs seem to be wrapped by PVA resulting from high amount of PVA

Summary

Introduction

Rigid-bodied robots have made great progress in the field of automatically assembling and manufacturing [1,2,3]. Compliant electrode is an important component for DEAs, since they must be able to synchronously follow large strains of the elastomer without generating an opposing stress or losing conductivity [13] Properties such as large stretchability and high electrical conductivity are highly demanded for compliant electrodes [14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23]. Stretchable composite materials prepared by incorporation of CNTs, nanowires or graphene into elastomer are alternative electrodes for the DEAs. Electrical conductivity of the composite electrodes is typically low and its stiffness is generally higher than dielectric polymers [17,28]. High electrical conductivity and self-healing capability of the CNT/PVA composite electrode prospects its applications in DEAs

Experimental

Characterizations of DEAs

Results and discussion

Conclusion