Electro-active paper actuators

Abstract

In this paper, the actuation mechanism of electro-active paper (EAPap) actuators is addressed and the potential of the actuators is demonstrated. EAPap is a paper that produces large displacement with small force under an electrical excitation. EAPap is made with a chemically treated paper by constructing thin electrodes on both sides of the paper. When electrical voltage is applied on the electrodes the EAPap produces bending displacement. However, the displacement output has been unstable and degraded with timescale. To improve the bending performance of EAPap, different paper fibers - softwood, hardwood, bacteria cellulose, cellophane, carbon mixture paper, electrolyte containing paper and Korean traditional paper, in conjunction with additive chemicals, were tested. Two attempts were made to construct the electrodes: the direct use of aluminum foil and the gold sputtering technique. It was found that a cellophane paper exhibits a remarkable bending performance. When 2 MV m^-1 excitation voltage was applied to the paper actuator, more than 3 mm tip displacement was observed from the 30 mm long paper beam. This is quite a low excitation voltage compared with that of other EAPs. Details of the experiments and results are addressed.