Soft ionic electroactive polymer actuators and sensors with graphene/polyaniline nanocomposite electrodes

Soft ionic electroactive polymers are proved as excellent materials for creation of bending micromechanical sensors, which are used in microrobotics systems. Such transducer incorporates two electrodes (usually noble metal) and ion-exchange polymer between them. The problem of the noble metal based electrodes is actual due to high cost and gradual cracking of the electrodes. Therefore, the electrodes comprised of graphene flakes could be a natural substitution for such electrodes, since the conductivity of ideal graphene is high and natural recourses of carbon are spacious. Conductivity and poor adhesion of the real graphene-based composite material can be increased by using conductive polymer (e.g. polyanilyne) as the second component of the composite. Transducers with graphene/polyaniline electrodes were developed and their electromechanical characteristics were investigated.