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Updated: Sep 19, 2025
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Fabrication Process of Silicone-based Dielectric Elastomer Actuators
Published on: February 1, 2016
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Single-Layer and Stack Dielectric Elastomer Actuators Using Polysiloxanes Modified with Ethylsulfonyl Groups.
Cansu Zeytun Karaman1,2, Thulasinath Raman Venkatesan1, Frank A Nüesch1,2
1Laboratory for Functional Polymers, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology Empa, Ueberlandstr. 129, CH-8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland.
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
|June 17, 2025
Summary
Researchers developed new dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) using high-permittivity polysiloxanes. These soft actuators achieve significant strain at lower electric fields, improving performance for robotics and prosthetics.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Polymer Chemistry
- Robotics Engineering
Background:
- Dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) are crucial for soft robotics and prosthetics, but often require high operating voltages or offer low force output.
- Limitations stem from low dielectric permittivity or excessively soft elastomers, hindering practical applications.
- Stack actuators using high-permittivity elastomers offer a potential solution to enhance force and reduce voltage requirements.
Purpose of the Study:
- To synthesize and optimize high-permittivity polysiloxanes for DEAs.
- To improve electromechanical performance by varying functional groups within the polysiloxane backbone.
- To evaluate the actuation performance of single-layer and stack DEAs based on the novel materials.
Main Methods:
- Synthesis of polysiloxanes with varying ratios of ethyl sulfonyl thioether and butane thioether groups.
- Characterization of dielectric properties (permittivity, conductivity) and electromechanical actuation (strain) under varying electric fields.
- Fabrication and testing of a five-single-layer stack DEA to assess performance under operational conditions.
Main Results:
- The optimized polysiloxane exhibited a dielectric permittivity of 16.2, low conductivity (1.8 × 10-10 S cm-1), and 13% lateral strain at 8.2 V μm-1.
- This material significantly outperformed state-of-the-art materials requiring over 20 V μm-1 for similar actuation.
- A five-layer stack actuator achieved 4.5% thickness strain at 14.5 V μm-1, demonstrating stable performance up to 10 Hz and over 4000 cycles.
Conclusions:
- Novel high-permittivity polysiloxanes offer a promising pathway to enhance DEA performance.
- The developed materials enable DEAs to operate at lower electric fields, increasing force output and efficiency.
- These advancements hold potential for next-generation soft robotics, prosthetics, and other precision motion applications.
