Abstract
Electroactive polymers (EAPs) such as P(VDF-TrFE-CTFE) are very promising in the field of flexible sensors and actuators. Their advantages in smart electrical devices are due to their low cost, elastic properties, low density, and ability to be manufactured into various shapes and thicknesses. In earlier years, terpolymer P(VDF-TrFE-CTFE) attracted a lot of research due to its relaxor-ferroelectric property that exhibits high electrostriction phenomena. While widely used in flexible actuation, this class of material is still limited by the high electric fields required (≥30 V μm−1) to achieve sufficient strain levels (>2%). This inevitably leads to high levels of leakage current and thus a short lifetime. This paper proposes a new approach based on electro-annealing thermal treatment for a pure terpolymer P(VDF-TrFE-CTFE) matrix in order to limit the conduction mechanisms. This in turn reduces the dielectric losses at a high level of electric fields. The experimental results demonstrate that a huge decrease in leakage current of 80% is achieved for a wide range of electric fields (i.e. up to 90 V μm−1) with a 4-fold extension in time-to-breakdown at high voltage excitations of 40 V μm−1.
Highlights
Electroactive polymers (EAPs) are attractive candidates for nextgeneration micro-electromechanical systems (MEMs) and smart actuators due to their easy processability with large and complex shapes, light weight,[1,2] fast electromechanical response, and low mechanical and acoustic impedance.[3,4] The peculiarity characterizing this class of materials is their ability to change shape upon an external stimulus such as electric voltage, thermal variation, and/or light exposure.EAPs can be classi ed into two main categories, i.e. ionic and dielectric
Electroactive polymers (EAPs) such as P(VDF-TrFE-CTFE) are very promising in the field of flexible sensors and actuators. Their advantages in smart electrical devices are due to their low cost, elastic properties, low density, and ability to be manufactured into various shapes and thicknesses
While widely used in flexible actuation, this class of material is still limited by the high electric fields required ($30 V mmÀ1) to achieve sufficient strain levels (>2%)
Summary
EAPs can be classi ed into two main categories, i.e. ionic and dielectric. For both electro-active polymer types, actuation is driven by an applied electric eld, but the material deformation is steered by very different physical mechanisms. The working principle of the ionic EAPs is based on ionic exchange between an electrolyte and a polymer matrix upon the appliance of the electric eld; in the case of dielectrics, polymer deformation is driven by the electrostatic force between the two electrodes generated by the external electric eld.[5] Here we focus only on this second category of polymers because they have wider versatility and a faster response to electrical stimuli—this makes them more promising in the development of active
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