Air-working ionic soft actuator based on three-dimensional graphene electrode

Abstract Air-working ionic soft actuator was fabricated by hot-pressing assembly. Here, poly(vinylidene fluoride-hexafluoropropylene) (PVDF-HFP) was chosen as polymer matrix to support ionic liquid (IL); three-dimensional (3D) graphene/conductive polymer composite, was adopted as flexible electrode. By adjusting the morphology of 3D graphene, a series of actuators with different 3D graphene electrode were obtained. The influence of pore size of 3D graphene on actuating performance was investigated. Compared with 2D graphene actuator, 3D graphene actuators showed obviously better bending actuating performance. 3D graphene (GO 3 mg/mL) actuator showed high peak-to-peak electric induced bending displacement of 8.5 mm (3 V, 0.1 Hz).