A Review on High‐Frequency Dielectric Elastomer Actuators: Materials, Dynamics, and Applications

Tang, Chao; Du, Boyuan; Jiang, Songwen; Zhong, Wang; Liu, Xin-Jun; Zhao, Huichan

doi:10.1002/aisy.202300047

Cited by 24 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 183 publications

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“…First, uncured silicone is poured onto an acrylic substrate and spin-coated into a silicone film. Silicone is chosen as the material of the dielectric layer due to its low viscoelastic damping and easy processing . Before being poured, uncured silicone is treated under a vacuum oven to eliminate air bubbles.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Spray-Printing and Spin Methods to Fabricate Multilayered Dielectric Elastomer Actuators Embedded with Liquid Metal Electrodes

Xiang,

Ye,

Xing

et al. 2023

ACS Appl. Electron. Mater.

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As high-efficiency electrical responsive materials, multilayer dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) have been widely adopted in fabricating soft robotics. Among various candidate materials, liquid metal (LM) is especially suitable to be used as a flexible electrode for DEAs owing to its high electrical conductivity and negligible stiffness. However, limited by the printing techniques, former works still did not achieve multilayer DEAs embedded with LM electrodes. To further push forward the progress in this direction, the present work proposes an easygoing way for fabricating flexible LM electrodes by combining spray-printing and high-speed spin procedures together. Over the conceptual experiments, the effects of rotational speed on surface topology, mechanical behaviors, and electrical properties of LM have been investigated and an optimum value of 4000 rpm is recommended for removing excess LM. Following that, the DEA thus integrated with the LM electrode presents negligible stiffness change compared with pure elastomer and displays rather good resistance cyclic behaviors. Finally, a multilayer cylindrical DEA device with six layers of LM electrodes and seven layers of silicone film is constructed and demonstrated to generate a blocked force of 8.76 mN at a bipolar sinusoidal voltage of 1000 V and 1 Hz, warranting the feasibility of the current approaches. This work expands the repertoire of multilayer DEA fabrication methods and holds significant promise for soft robotics in the near future.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Silicone is chosen as the material of the dielectric layer due to its low viscoelastic damping and easy processing. 46 Before being poured, uncured silicone is treated under a vacuum oven to eliminate air bubbles. Next, the silicone film is heated at 60 °C for 15 min to cure.…”

Section: ■ Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spray-Printing and Spin Methods to Fabricate Multilayered Dielectric Elastomer Actuators Embedded with Liquid Metal Electrodes

Xiang,

Ye,

Xing

et al. 2023

ACS Appl. Electron. Mater.

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“…Our AED stimulations approximate a device that is infinite in all directions due to the periodic boundary conditions. However, especially for multilayer structures, breakdown typically occurs at the edges of the electrodes 78 . The influence of fiber-type electrodes on these edge effects will require computational and experimental investigation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

In silico optimization of aligned fiber electrodes for dielectric elastomer actuators

Firoozan,

Baniassadi,

Baghani

et al. 2024

Sci Rep

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Dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) exhibit fast actuation and high efficiencies, enabling applications in optics, wearable haptics, and insect-scale robotics. However, the non-uniformity and high sheet resistance of traditional soft electrodes based on nanomaterials limit the performance and operating frequency of the devices. In this work, we computationally investigate electrodes composed of arrays of stiff fiber electrodes. Aligning the fibers along one direction creates an electrode layer that exhibits zero stiffness in one direction and is predicted to possess high and uniform sheet resistance. A comprehensive parameter study of the fiber density and dielectric thickness reveals that the fiber density primary determines the electric field localization while the dielectric thickness primarily determines the unit cell stiffness. These trends identify an optimal condition for the actuation performance of the aligned electrode DEAs. This work demonstrates that deterministically designed electrodes composed of stiff materials could provide a new paradigm with the potential to surpass the performance of traditional soft planar electrodes.

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“…As a type of electro-active polymers, dielectric elastomer (DE) can generate a large deformation under the external voltage, that is, an obvious expansion in plane and a shrinkage in thickness [1][2][3][4][5]. Owing to the superior electromechanical limit, a large number of freely mobile charges appear within the DE material, forming a conductive path.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Humidity effect on electromechanical breakdown of dielectric elastomers subject to a ramp voltage

Zuo,

Huang,

Zhang

et al. 2024

Smart Mater. Struct.

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As is known, the external excitations, material parameters, and ambient environment may affect the electromechanical properties of dielectric elastomers (DEs), which directly induce the occurrence of electrical breakdown. In this paper, we experimentally and theoretically studied the effects of voltage ramp rate, ambient humidity, electrode material, and pre-stretch on electromechanical deformation and electrical breakdown of DEs. By coupling the above four factors, the nonlinear constitutive model and electrical breakdown model of the viscoelastic DE are developed, which are shown to be consistent with the experimental observations. Firstly, when the ramp voltages with different rate are loaded to the same value, a larger voltage ramp rate leads to a smaller stretch and a higher electrical breakdown field strength of the elastomer. Besides, as the humidity increases, the electromechanical deformation increases and the electrical breakdown field decreases. In addition, it is found that different electrode materials show diverse sensitivity to the electromechanical deformation and breakdown field. Finally, with the increase of the pre-stretch from 2 to 4, the deformation and breakdown field both show an upward trend.

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A Review on High‐Frequency Dielectric Elastomer Actuators: Materials, Dynamics, and Applications

Cited by 24 publications

References 183 publications

Spray-Printing and Spin Methods to Fabricate Multilayered Dielectric Elastomer Actuators Embedded with Liquid Metal Electrodes

Spray-Printing and Spin Methods to Fabricate Multilayered Dielectric Elastomer Actuators Embedded with Liquid Metal Electrodes

In silico optimization of aligned fiber electrodes for dielectric elastomer actuators

Humidity effect on electromechanical breakdown of dielectric elastomers subject to a ramp voltage

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