Abstract: Electroactive polymers that exhibit controlled deformation under applied electric field in liquid or air phase have great potential in the actuator field.  In general, the fabrication the actuators are restricted due to the 2-dimensional fabrication methods. In this work, we developed crosslinked polyacrylic acid membranes by utilizing the digital light projection (DLP) method. The polymer samples were polymerized based on the photo-initiate free radical polymerization method by using acrylic acid as a monomer, trimethylolpropane trimethacrylate as a crosslinker, and 2 wt% of phenyl bis (2,4,6-trimethylbenzoyl) phosphine oxide as a photoinitiator. The design of the novel ink can be printed under the 405nm UV light projection in DLP printer. The 3D printed hydrogel exhibits large deformation capacity  (bending angle: 43<sup>o</sup>), high actuation speed (1.08 degree/s), fast actuation speed (&lt;1s), and multiple bending cycles under relatively low actuation voltage (4-6V). Factors such as acrylic acid contents, crosslinker concentrations, thicknesses, and electric field strength are studied and discussed to understand the viscoelastic behavior of hydrogels.

Poly acrylic acid-based hydrogel actuator fabricated via digital light projection

ACS Fall 2021

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.