An Electrolyte-Free Conducting Polymer Actuator that Displays Electrothermal Bending and Flapping Wing Motions under a Magnetic Field

Abstract

Electroactive materials that change shape in response to electrical stimulation can serve as actuators. Electroactive actuators of this type have great utility in a variety of technologies, including biomimetic artificial muscles, robotics, and sensors. Electroactive actuators developed to date often suffer from problems associated with the need to use electrolytes, slow response times, high driving voltages, and short cycle lifetimes. Herein, we report an electrolyte-free, single component, polymer electroactive actuator, which has a fast response time, high durability, and requires a low driving voltage (< 5 V). The process employed for production of this material involves wet-spinning of a preorganized camphorsulfonic acid (CSA)-doped polyaniline (PANI) gel, which generates long, flexible, and conductive (similar to 270 S/cm) microfibers. Reversible bending motions take place upon application of an alternating current (AC) to the PANI polymer. This motion, promoted by a significantly low driving voltage (< 0.5 V) in the presence of an external magnetic field, has a very large swinging speed (9000 swings/min) that lies in the range of those of flies and bees (1000-15000 swings/min) and is fatigue-resistant (>1000000 cycles).