Fig. 4: The actuation performance of the EAP actuators.
a The optical photos show the H1.1-RT-TS actuator’s deformation condition with the increasing driving electric field. b, c The bending angles (b) and the output force near the fixed end (c) of the actuators made by nanocomposites with various concentrations and orientations of Al2O3@CNTs under different electric fields. The inset in (c) shows a schematic diagram of the output force and bending angle of the actuator beam. d The average stiffness of the pure RT-TS and nanocomposites modified by Al2O3@CNTs. The inset in the upper left corner of (d) illustrates the measurement of the peak force model of atomic force microscopy (AFM). The insets in (d) show the distribution of stiffness in different nanocomposite membranes. The error bars in (d) represent the standard deviation obtained from the value of the sixteen points marked on the samples. e The simulated stress distribution of the pure RT-TS, V-RT-TS, and H-RT-TS membranes under the same compression force. f The schematic of the point-enhanced and face-enhanced effects on the stiffness of the nanocomposites with vertically and horizontally aligned Al2O3@CNTs, respectively. g Stability and repeatability for the output force of the H1.1-RT-TS actuator over 20000 cycles, when an AC electric field of 34 Vpp/μm is applied. h Comparison of output forces per unit volume measured at the free end of the actuator and the corresponding bending angles of the cantilever beam actuators in this work with other reported works48,49,50,51,52,53,54,55,56,57,58.
