title: One-volt-driven superfast polymer actuators based on single-ion conductors.
abstract: The key challenges in the advancement of actuator technologies related to artificial muscles include fast-response time, low operation voltages and durability. Although several researchers have tackled these challenges over the last few decades, no breakthrough has been made. Here we describe a platform for the development of soft actuators that moves a few millimetres under 1 V in air, with a superfast response time of tens of milliseconds. An essential component of this actuator is the single-ion-conducting polymers that contain well-defined ionic domains through the introduction of zwitterions; this achieved an exceptionally high dielectric constant of 76 and a 300-fold enhancement in ionic conductivity. Moreover, the actuator demonstrated long-term durability, with negligible changes in the actuator stroke over 20,000 cycles in air. Owing to its low-power consumption (only 4 mW), we believe that this actuator could pave the way for cutting-edge biomimetic technologies in the future.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), Pohang 790-784, Korea.
authors.forename: Onnuri
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), Pohang 790-784, Korea.
authors.forename: Hoon
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Functional Composites Department, Korea Institute of Materials Science, Changwon 642-831, Korea.|Department of Polymer Engineering, Pukyong National University, Busan 608-739, Korea.
authors.forename: U Hyeok
authors.initials: UH
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), Pohang 790-784, Korea.
authors.forename: Moon Jeong
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Park