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Updated: Jan 26, 2026

Fabrication Process of Silicone-based Dielectric Elastomer Actuators
Published on: February 1, 2016
Improved Mechanical and Electrochemical Properties of XNBR Dielectric Elastomer Actuator by Poly(dopamine)
Dan Yang1,2, Xinxin Kong3,4, Yufeng Ni5,6
1Department of Material Science and Engineering, Beijing Institute of Petrochemical Technology, Beijing 102617, China. yangdan@bipt.edu.cn.
Abstract:
In this work, graphene nano-sheets (GNS) functionalized with poly(dopamine) (PDA) (denoted as GNS-PDA) were dispersed in a carboxylated nitrile butadiene rubber (XNBR) matrix to obtain excellent dielectric composites via latex mixing. Because hydrogen bonds were formed between ⁻COOH groups of XNBR and phenolic hydroxyl groups of PDA, the encapsulation of GNS-PDA around XNBR latex particles was achieved, and led to a segregated network structure of filler formed in the GNS-PDA/XNBR composite. Thus, the XNBR composite filled with GNS-PDA showed improved filler dispersion, enhanced dielectric constant and dielectric strength, and decreased conductivity compared with the XNBR composite filled with pristine GNS. Finally, the GNS-PDA/XNBR composite displayed an actuated strain of 2.4% at 18 kV/mm, and this actuated strain was much larger than that of pure XNBR (1.3%) at the same electric field. This simple, environmentally friendly, low-cost, and effective method provides a promising route for obtaining a high-performance dielectric elastomer with improved mechanical and electrochemical properties.
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