A Review of Recent Advances in Electrically Driven Polymer‐Based Flexible Actuators: Smart Materials, Structures, and Their Applications

Abstract

Polymer-based flexible actuators have recently attracted significant attention owing to their great potentials in soft robotics, wearables, haptics, and medical devices. In particular, electrically driven polymer-based flexible actuators are considered as some of the most practical actuators because they can be driven by a simple electrical power source. Over the past decade, research on electrically driven soft actuators has greatly progressed, leading to the development of various functional materials and bioinspired structures. This article comprehensively reviews recent advances in electrically driven soft actuators and compares their actuation performance based on working principles, materials, and structures. Several strategies, including combining smart materials and composite structures, which are proposed to overcome some of the drawbacks of electrically driven soft actuators, are also discussed. Finally, potential applications of electrically driven soft actuators in soft robotics are summarized and an outlook is presented.

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“…The development of novel composite nanomaterials and microstructures has enabled a paradigm shift in how we define wearable devices [38,39 ▪ ]. Specifically, these materials have enabled the production of flexible and stretchable strain sensors which can measure chest wall movement, pulse, ECG or temperature and can be incorporated into clothing fibre or on a skin adhesive patch [38,39 ▪ ]. Such materials introduce a level of unobtrusiveness in monitoring and high scalability owing to industry-comparable performance, low cost, and accessibility [38,39 ▪ ].…”

“…Specifically, these materials have enabled the production of flexible and stretchable strain sensors which can measure chest wall movement, pulse, ECG or temperature and can be incorporated into clothing fibre or on a skin adhesive patch [38,39 ▪ ]. Such materials introduce a level of unobtrusiveness in monitoring and high scalability owing to industry-comparable performance, low cost, and accessibility [38,39 ▪ ]. The challenge of powering these devices is being actively addressed, including through stretchable fibre-shaped nanogenerators, which can harvest human-body mechanical energy to produce a self-powered system [40 ▪ ].…”

Ion‐Conducting Non‐Flammable Liquid Crystal–Polymer Composites for High‐Frequency Soft Actuators

“…Soft actuators that can produce mechanical work when stimulated by heat, humidity, light, or electric field have drawn tremendous attention in the fields of bioinspired robotics, biomedical devices, and haptic devices. [ 1–5 ] Among several types of soft actuators including dielectric elastomers and piezoelectric polymers, ionic electroactive polymer (iEAP) actuators, consisting of an ion‐conductive membrane sandwiched between two electrodes, are particularly attractive owing to their lightweight, simple fabrication, precise electrical control of actuation, large and fast deformation under a low operation voltage less than 2 V. [ 6–8 ] Various electrodes and ion‐conductive polymers have been investigated to improve the bending performance of iEAP actuators. [ 9–19 ] For example, 3D nanoarchitectured materials with high surface‐area such as carbon nanotube/graphitic carbon nitride hybrids, [ 20 ] laser‐scribed reduced graphene oxides, [ 21 ] and conductive metal‐organic frameworks, have been developed as flexible, highly conductive, and crack‐free electrodes.…”

Dielectric Elastomers with Liquid Metal and Polydopamine-Coated Graphene Oxide Inclusions

“…Soft materials that are capable of sensing, − actuation, − and energy harvesting − have an important role for emerging applications in wearable electronics − and soft robotics. − Among these soft transducer materials, dielectric elastomers have been especially popular due to their mechanical compliance, extreme elastic deformability, and compatibility with low-power electronics. − Rubbery polymers like polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), polyurethane, polyacrylates, and styrenic block copolymers (e.g., SEBS and SIS , ) are widely used as dielectric elastomers because of their low elastic modulus and robust electrical insulating properties. However, compared to many classes of ceramics, fluids, and insulating crystalline materials, elastomers have a relatively low dielectric constant, which means that there is limited coupling between voltage and electrical current or charge.…”