Multilayer Dielectric Elastomers for Fast, Programmable Actuation without Prestretch

Mihai Duduta; Robert J Wood; David R Clarke

doi:10.1002/adma.201601842

Multilayer Dielectric Elastomers for Fast, Programmable Actuation without Prestretch

Adv Mater. 2016 Sep;28(36):8058-8063. doi: 10.1002/adma.201601842. Epub 2016 Jul 4.

Authors

Mihai Duduta¹, Robert J Wood², David R Clarke²

Affiliations

¹ John A. Paulson Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, 11 Oxford St., Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA. mduduta@g.harvard.edu.
² John A. Paulson Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, 11 Oxford St., Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA.

PMID: 27376638
DOI: 10.1002/adma.201601842

Abstract

A novel method for the fabrication of dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) combines acrylic polymers and single wall carbon nanotube network electrodes. DEAs made using this technique do not require prestretching, have extremely thin electrodes, and can be actuated at low voltage. The method is applied to create a multimorph device with nine actuation modes based on just four inputs.

Keywords: carbon nanotubes; dielectric elastomers; multilayer; multimorph; soft robotics.