Characteristics and bending performance of electroactive polymer blend made with cellulose and poly(3-hydroxybutyrate)

Zhijiang Cai; Chengwei Hou; Guang Yang

doi:10.1016/j.carbpol.2011.08.038

Characteristics and bending performance of electroactive polymer blend made with cellulose and poly(3-hydroxybutyrate)

Carbohydr Polym. 2012 Jan 4;87(1):650-657. doi: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2011.08.038. Epub 2011 Aug 22.

Authors

Zhijiang Cai¹, Chengwei Hou², Guang Yang²

Affiliations

¹ School of Textiles, Tianjin Polytechnic University, Tianjin 300160, China; Key Laboratory of Advanced Textile Composites, Ministry of Education of China, Tianjin 300160, China. Electronic address: caizhijiang@hotmail.com.
² School of Textiles, Tianjin Polytechnic University, Tianjin 300160, China.

PMID: 34663017
DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2011.08.038

Abstract

This paper describes a novel cellulose/poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) blend based electroactive polymer. The fabrication process, bending actuation test and its characteristics are investigated. To prepare this new EAP, cellulose and PHB were dissolved in trifluoroacetic acid. The solution was cast to form a film followed by depositing thin gold electrode on both sides of the film. The characteristics of the cellulose/PHB film were investigated by Fourier transform infrared spectra, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction differential scanning calorimetry, tensile test and dynamic mechanical analysis. The bending performance was evaluated in terms of free bending displacement, electrical power consumption output and lifetime test under ambient conditions. Primary results show that this cellulose/PHB blend EAP is less sensitive to humidity and it shows higher bending displacement and longer lifetime than pure cellulose EAP at room humidity condition. These results indicate that this new cellulose/PHB blend EAP has potential for many biomimetic applications.

Keywords: Bending displacement; Cellulose; Lifetime; Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate).