State-of-the-Art and Perspectives for Electroactive Polymers

Abstract

Certain polymers can be stimulated to change their physical and chemical properties by an environmental stimulus. Polymers that show some property change that face an electric field are known as electroactive polymers (EAPs). The concept of EAPs was documented for the first time in 1880 by Roentgen, which showed that a natural rubber film changed its shape in response to an electrical stimulus. Electronic EAPs are insulating materials that are activated by Coulomb forces, when two electrodes that have a polymeric film in the middle are under an electric field. Dielectric polymers are characterized by low levels of elastic stiffness, high levels of dielectric breakdown strength, and high energy densities. Dielectric polymers are currently widely used in silicone rubber, acrylate, and thermal plastic polyurethane. Ferroelectricity is a property associated with spontaneous electric polarization that occurs in a non-conducting crystal or dielectric material.