Carbon Nanotube-based Actuators using solid and liquid Electrolytes: Investigations of key mechanisms and their differences

Introduction Since the first CNT-based actuation-experiments were carried out 1999 by Baughman [1] a great research-driven development has taken place till today. Because of the fact that Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs) need ions for their significant deflection the first generation of actuators were implemented by ions containing liquid electrolytes. Their electromechanical characterization is intensively analyzed and partly well known . For structural applications it is essential to replace the liquid by a solid electrolyte like Nafion. Although there have been some successful implementations of solid CNT-based actuators [3] unfortunately the manufactured composites (Fig. 1 a) show no time-constant repeatable characteristics (Fig. 1 b and c). Therefore it is necessary to study the characteristics of the single components in more detail and especially the effects of their modification on the global actuation-system-response.