Ion implanted dielectric elastomer circuits

Ion implanted dielectric elastomer circuits

Starfish and octopuses control their infinite degreeof-freedom arms with panache—capabilities typical of nature where the distribution of reflex-like intelligence throughout soft muscular networks greatly outperforms anything hard, heavy, and man-made. Dielectric elastomer actuators show great promise for soft artificial muscle networks. One way to make them smart is with piezo-resistive Dielec...

Multilayer Dielectric Elastomer Actuators with Ion Implanted Electrodes

We present the design, fabrication process and characterization of multilayer miniaturized polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-based dielectric elastomer diaphragm actuators. The conductive stretchable electrodes are obtained by lowenergy metal ion implantation. To increase force, decrease the required voltage, and avoid dielectric breakdown, we present here a technique to fabricate multilayer devices ...

Mechanical characterization of a dielectric elastomer microactuator with ion-implanted electrodes

We report on the mechanical characterization and modeling of a non-prestretched dielectric elastomer diaphragm microactuator with ion-implanted electrodes under the influence of a distributed load (pressure). Thin PDMS membranes (30 μm thick, 2-3 mm diameter) were implanted on both side with gold ions by Filtered Cathodic Vacuum Arc and bonded on silicon chips with through-holes. A voltage appl...

Ion-implanted compliant and patternable electrodes for miniaturized dielectric elastomer actuators

This article presents metal ion implantation as an alternative technique to fabricate compliant electrodes for small-size dielectric elastomer actuators. When reducing the size of these actuators to below 1 cm, the ability to pattern the electrodes is added to the need for compliance. Metal ion implantation on Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) layers allows the creation of conductive and compliant el...

Dielectric Elastomers Conductive Elastomer Insulating Elastomer