Electromechanical Actuator Ribbons Driven by Electrically Conducting Spring-Like Fibers

Peining Chen; Sisi He; Yifan Xu; Xuemei Sun; Huisheng Peng

doi:10.1002/adma.201501731

Electromechanical Actuator Ribbons Driven by Electrically Conducting Spring-Like Fibers

Adv Mater. 2015 Sep 9;27(34):4982-8. doi: 10.1002/adma.201501731. Epub 2015 Jul 20.

Authors

Peining Chen¹, Sisi He¹, Yifan Xu¹, Xuemei Sun¹, Huisheng Peng¹

Affiliation

¹ State Key Laboratory of Molecular Engineering of Polymers, Collaborative Innovation Center of Polymers and Polymer Composite Materials, Department of Macromolecular Science and Laboratory of Advanced Materials, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200438, China.

PMID: 26192453
DOI: 10.1002/adma.201501731

Abstract

Electrically conducting fibers are woven into polymer ribbons to prepare electromechanical actuators. The ribbons generate a strain rate of more than 10(3) times that of typical electrochemical actuators, accompanied by a lower operating voltage and faster responsiveness compared to electrostatic and electrothermal actuators. Programmable actuation including bending, contraction, elongation, and rotation are shown with a high reversibility.

Keywords: carbon nanotube fibers; electromechanical actuators; fabric; helical structures; spring-like fibers.