Electrochemical actuators based on nitrogen-doped carbons derived from zeolitic imidazolate frameworks

Abstract

In this study, an electrochemical actuator was prepared by porous nitrogen-doped carbon (NDC) electrode derived from a zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF). The microstructure, morphology, and composition of NDC were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The NDC exhibited ZIF structures and the specific capacitance of NDC was 224.1 F∙g−1 in KOH aqueous solution (25 mV∙s−1). Furthermore, the electrochemical actuator based on NDC electrode displayed reliable and large bending deformations under low input voltages. The influence of NDC content on electromechanical performance of actuator was investigated. With the increase of NDC content, the actuating displacement of actuator first increased and then decreased, and the 20%NDC electrode based actuator showed the best actuating performance. The tip peak-to-peak displacement and bending strain of the 20%NDC based actuator were 17.5 mm and 0.20% under the applied voltage of ±3 V at a frequency of 0.1 Hz. Therefore, zeolitic imidazolate frameworks can be applied to provide significant improvements in electrochemical actuators, which can play key roles as technological advances toward bioinspired actuating devices for next-generation soft and wearable electronics.