High-Performance Nanocellulose-Based Ionic Electroactive Soft Actuators

Abstract

High-performance electroactive polymer actuators with large bending, fast response, and high durability have gained attention in the development of micromanipulators and multifunctional bionic soft robots. Herein, we developed high-performance electroactive soft actuators fabricated with ultrathin free-standing microfibrillated cellulose (MFC)-reinforced poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)/poly(4-styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT/PSS) with multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT)-doped composite electrode films and ion-exchange Nafion membranes by a hot-pressing method. The prepared PEDOT/PSS-MFC-MWCNT electrodes have good film-forming properties with a Young’s modulus of 448 MPa and an electrical conductivity of 75 S/cm. The proposed PEDOT/PSS-MFC-MWCNT/Nafion soft actuators have a sustained peak displacement of 2.1 mm and a long-term cyclic stability of 94% with no degradation over 1 h at 1.0 V, 0.1 Hz. Furthermore, we fabricated soft micro-grippers based on the actuators for mimicking actual finger actions for grasping, pointing, and counting, which introduces new possibilities for the next-generation development of micromanipulators and bionic soft robotics.