Bottlebrush Elastomers: A New Platform for Freestanding Electroactuation

Mohammad Vatankhah-Varnoosfaderani; William F M Daniel; Alexandr P Zhushma; Qiaoxi Li; Benjamin J Morgan; Krzysztof Matyjaszewski; Daniel P Armstrong; Richard J Spontak; Andrey V Dobrynin; Sergei S Sheiko

doi:10.1002/adma.201604209

Bottlebrush Elastomers: A New Platform for Freestanding Electroactuation

Adv Mater. 2017 Jan;29(2). doi: 10.1002/adma.201604209. Epub 2016 Nov 8.

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA.
² Department of Chemistry, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, USA.
³ Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, 27695, USA.
⁴ Department of Polymer Science, University of Akron, Akron, OH, 44325, USA.

PMID: 27859735
DOI: 10.1002/adma.201604209

Abstract

Freestanding, single-component dielectric actuators are designed based on bottlebrush elastomers that enable giant reversible strokes at relatively low electric fields and altogether avoid preactuation mechanical manipulation. This materials design platform allows for independent tuning of actuator rigidity and elasticity over broad ranges without changing chemical composition, which opens new opportunities in soft-matter robotics.

Keywords: bottlebrush elastomers; dielectric actuators; free-standing actuation; mechanical properties.