Linear and bending actuation of bucky gel

Abstract

In 2003 Takuzo Aida and coworkers reported that single-walled carbon nanotubes (SW-CNTs), when ground with imidazolium based ionic liquids (ILs), create a physical gel, named "bucky gel"¹. This gel was used to prepare bimorph electrochemical actuators using a polymer-supported internal IL electrolyte layer². These actuators can operate in air at low voltage showing improved frequency response and strain. Usual bucky gel actuators rely on a bimorph configuration where the electrodes are used alternatively as cathode and anode thus producing a bending motion. This kind of motion is limiting the possible applications, especially when, like in artificial muscles, linear strain and motion are required. We present a new design for bucky gel actuators capable of both linear and bending motion that uses a three electrode configuration with two active electrodes and a third passive one, made from a metal spring (serpentine shaped), acting as counter plate. We have built such a device and report here its linear and bending actuation performance. In these preliminary experiments we have obtained a linear strain of 0.6% and a bending strain difference between two bucky gel electrodes of 0.25%.