Soft and flexible PEDOT/PSS films for applications to soft actuators

Abstract

Stretchable and highly conductive PEDOT/PSS/Xyl films were prepared by casting an aqueous dispersion of poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) doped with poly(4-styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT/ PSS) as colloidal gel particles containing xylitol (Xyl) and subsequent heating. The electrical conductivity of the PEDOT/PSS/Xyl film containing 50 wt% of xylitol significantly increased from 115 S cm −1 to 407 S cm −1 by heating at 140 °C in air for 1 h. It was found that the xylitol had two functions as (i) a plasticizer to weaken hydrogen bonds between PSS of colloidal particles by replacing with that between xylitol and PSS and (ii) the additional capability of increasing the mobility of charge carriers between the colloidal particles. The transparent ionic liquid/polyurethane (IL/PU) gels were fabricated by dissolving thermoplastic polyurethane and ionic liquid of 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide. By increasing the IL content from 0 wt% to 70 wt%, both ionic conductivity and electric-double-layer capacitance under an electric field increased, while Young's modulus, strength and elongation at break decreased. The IL/PU/PEDOT/PSS/Xyl composites were fabricated by sandwiching the IL/PU gel between two soft and flexible PEDOT/PSS/Xyl films. Upon application of 2 V, the IL/PU/PEDOT/PSS/Xyl composite (IL = 70%) showed quick and intensive bending toward anode, where the bending displacement at 0.1 Hz attained 2.9 mm, corresponding to the strain of 0.15%, and still worked at frequencies higher than 50 Hz.

Flexible and Electroactive Textile Actuator Enabled by PEDOT:PSS/MOF-Derivative Electrode Ink

“…In the inset of Figure 6C, the displacement decreases as the frequency increases, primarily because the ions do not have sufficient time to transfer to the electrodes at high frequencies (Kotal et al, 2016). As expected, compared to the other PEDOT:PSS based actuators reported in the literature, the 20% CCZ8/P.P textile actuator dealing with low-voltage operations under different input frequencies shows better bending strain as depicted in Figure 6D (Li et al, 2014;Kotal et al, 2016;Maziz et al, 2016). Apart from large strain and fast response, textiles actuators also exhibit large blocking forces.…”

Effective Approaches to Improve the Electrical Conductivity of PEDOT:PSS: A Review

“…5 Singh et al [45] 27.5 621. 6 Wichiansee et al [46] DMF 0.8 ± 0.1 30 ± 10 Kim et al [8] THF 0.8 ± 0.1 4 ± 1 Kim et al [8] Glycerol 9.8 86.8 Lai et al [47] 0.2-1 (Clevios PH500) 450 Lee et al [18] Sorbitol 4 × 10 −4 (Clevios P VP AI 4083) 10 Nardes et al [48] (1.1±0.1) × 10 −3 (Clevios P VP AI 4083) 5.2 ± 0.3 Nardes et al [49] 0.2-1 (Clevios P) 35 Otero et al [50] 0.24 118.3 Onorato et al [51] 1 10 2 Timpanaro et al [52] 0.2-1 (Clevios P) 10 2 Ouyang et al [53] Methoxyethanol 0.003 (Clevios P VP AI 4083) 0.61 Hu et al [54] Diethylene glycol 0.006 10 Crispin et al [55] Dimethyl sulfate 0.07 (Clevios P) 132 Reyes-Reyes et al [56] Meso-erythritol 0.4 155 Ouyang et al [43] Xylitol 12 115 Li et al [57] www.MaterialsViews.com www.advelectronicmat.de wileyonlinelibrary.com…”

PEDOT-Based Conducting Polymer Actuators

“…Stress (MPa) Typically: 0-10 Max. : 50 Hara and Takashima, 2004;Wang et al, 2017 Strain (%) Typically: 0-3 Vandesteeg et al, 2003;Vidal, 2006;Zainudeen et al, 2008;Li et al, 2014 Strain rate (%/s) Typically: 10 0 -10 1 Dai et al, 2010;Temmer, 2013 Life (cycle) Typically: 10 4 -10 5 Max. : 10 6 Vidal et al, 2004, Kotal et al, 2016 Potential (V) Typically: 1-3 Kim et al, 2013;Kotal et al, 2016 Conversion Efficiency (%) Typically: <1 Max.…”

“…Electronic conductivity (S/cm) Typically: 10-10 3 Lee et al, 2004;Li et al, 2014 Ionic conductivity (S/cm) Typically: 10 −4 -10 −3 Vidal et al, 2003;Vidal, 2006;Wang et al, 2014 Capacitance (F/m 3 )/(F/g) Typically: 10 5 -10 6 /Typically: 10-10 3 Kotal et al, 2016;Terasawa and Asaka, 2016;Poldsalu et al, 2017;Wang et al, 2017 Modulus (GPa) Typically: 0-0.5 Max. : 15 Kim et al, 2013;Farajollahi et al, 2016a,b Tensile strength (MPa) Typically: 10-10 2 Madden et al, 2004;Farajollahi et al, 2016a,b Elongation at break (%) Typically: <50 Farajollahi et al, 2016a,b;Wang et al, 2017 where Z is the real part of the complex impedance and d and S are the thickness and the area of the sample, respectively.…”