Preparation of New Acrylic-Based Dielectric Elastomers Based on Complexation of Ca2+ Ions with Carboxyl Groups Displaying Excellent Performance

Dielectric elastomers are functional materials that can produce significant changes in size and shape under the influence of electric field, enabling the conversion of electrical energy to mechanical energy. In recent decades, they have been widely used in electronically driven devices. The acrylates of VHB series (3M company) are currently the most widely used dielectric elastomer. However, the drawbacks, such as mechanical hysteresis, slow response speed, the need for large pre-strain, and the need for high driving voltage limit their application range. In this work, from the perspective of designing molecular structure, n-butyl acrylate and acrylic acid were polymerized by atom transfer radical polymerization method, and calcium ion was used to coordinate with carboxyl to obtain a new type of acrylic dielectric elastomer with high dielectric constant, low dielectric loss, and excellent mechanical properties.