Fabrication and characterization of dry conducting polymer actuator by vapor phase polymerization of polypyrrole

A trilayered dry conducting polymer actuator was fabricated via application of a polypyrrole (PPy) coating on both sides of a solid polymer electrolyte film using vapor phase polymerization (VPP). The solid polymer electrolyte film was prepared by incorporation of different weight ratios of dodecylbenzene sulfonic acid sodium salt in poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) by solvent casting. The successful polymerization of PPy was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy; a uniform PPy coating on the solid polymer electrolyte film surface was also observed by scanning electron microscopy. The dry PVA/PPy actuator demonstrated good actuation behavior at a low applied voltage of 1-3 V. The actuator bending displacement was found to increase with an increase in the applied voltage. The VPP approach in this study provides a very effective method for achieving a uniform polymer coating in the fabrication of a dry conducting polymer actuator.