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Effect of the Particle Size and Layer Thickness of GNP Fillers on the Dielectric Properties and Actuated Strain of GNP–PDMS Composites

Dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs), a type of electroactive polymers (EAPs), are smart materials that are used in various fields such as artificial muscles and biomimetic robots. In this study, graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs), which are conductive carbon fillers, were added to a widely used DEA, na...

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Autores principales: Seo, Jin-Sung, Kim, Do-Hyeon, Jung, Heon-Seob, Kim, Ho-Dong, Choi, Jaewon, Kim, Minjae, Baeck, Sung-Hyeon, Shim, Sang-Eun
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9502295/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36145966
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/polym14183824
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author Seo, Jin-Sung
Kim, Do-Hyeon
Jung, Heon-Seob
Kim, Ho-Dong
Choi, Jaewon
Kim, Minjae
Baeck, Sung-Hyeon
Shim, Sang-Eun
author_facet Seo, Jin-Sung
Kim, Do-Hyeon
Jung, Heon-Seob
Kim, Ho-Dong
Choi, Jaewon
Kim, Minjae
Baeck, Sung-Hyeon
Shim, Sang-Eun
author_sort Seo, Jin-Sung
collection PubMed
description Dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs), a type of electroactive polymers (EAPs), are smart materials that are used in various fields such as artificial muscles and biomimetic robots. In this study, graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs), which are conductive carbon fillers, were added to a widely used DEA, namely, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), to improve its low actuated strain. Four grades of GNPs were used: H5, H25, M5, and M25 (here, the number following the letter indicates the average particle size of the GNPs in μm). The average layer thickness of the H grade is 13–14 nm and that of the M grade is 5–7 nm. PDMS composites were prepared by adding 0.5, 1, 2, and 3 wt% of each GNP, following which the mechanical properties, dielectric properties, and actuated strain of the composites were measured. The mechanical properties were found to increase as the particle size increased. Regarding the dielectric characteristics, it was found that the higher the aspect ratio of the filler, the easier the formation of a micro-capacitor network in the composite—this led to an increase in the dielectric constant. In addition, the higher amounts of GNPs in the composites also led to an increase in the dielectric constant. For the actuated strain analysis, the electromechanical sensitivity was calculated using the ratio of the dielectric constant to the Young’s modulus, which is proportional to the strain. However, it was found that when the loss tangent was high, the performance of the actuated strain decreased owing to the conversion of electric energy into thermal energy and leakage current loss. As a result, the highest actuated strain was exhibited by the M25 composite, with an actuated strain value of 3.01% measured at a low electric field (<4 kV/mm). In conclusion, we proved that the GNP–PDMS composites with a thin layer and large particle size exhibited high deformation.
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spelling pubmed-95022952022-09-24 Effect of the Particle Size and Layer Thickness of GNP Fillers on the Dielectric Properties and Actuated Strain of GNP–PDMS Composites Seo, Jin-Sung Kim, Do-Hyeon Jung, Heon-Seob Kim, Ho-Dong Choi, Jaewon Kim, Minjae Baeck, Sung-Hyeon Shim, Sang-Eun Polymers (Basel) Article Dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs), a type of electroactive polymers (EAPs), are smart materials that are used in various fields such as artificial muscles and biomimetic robots. In this study, graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs), which are conductive carbon fillers, were added to a widely used DEA, namely, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), to improve its low actuated strain. Four grades of GNPs were used: H5, H25, M5, and M25 (here, the number following the letter indicates the average particle size of the GNPs in μm). The average layer thickness of the H grade is 13–14 nm and that of the M grade is 5–7 nm. PDMS composites were prepared by adding 0.5, 1, 2, and 3 wt% of each GNP, following which the mechanical properties, dielectric properties, and actuated strain of the composites were measured. The mechanical properties were found to increase as the particle size increased. Regarding the dielectric characteristics, it was found that the higher the aspect ratio of the filler, the easier the formation of a micro-capacitor network in the composite—this led to an increase in the dielectric constant. In addition, the higher amounts of GNPs in the composites also led to an increase in the dielectric constant. For the actuated strain analysis, the electromechanical sensitivity was calculated using the ratio of the dielectric constant to the Young’s modulus, which is proportional to the strain. However, it was found that when the loss tangent was high, the performance of the actuated strain decreased owing to the conversion of electric energy into thermal energy and leakage current loss. As a result, the highest actuated strain was exhibited by the M25 composite, with an actuated strain value of 3.01% measured at a low electric field (<4 kV/mm). In conclusion, we proved that the GNP–PDMS composites with a thin layer and large particle size exhibited high deformation. MDPI 2022-09-13 /pmc/articles/PMC9502295/ /pubmed/36145966 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/polym14183824 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Seo, Jin-Sung
Kim, Do-Hyeon
Jung, Heon-Seob
Kim, Ho-Dong
Choi, Jaewon
Kim, Minjae
Baeck, Sung-Hyeon
Shim, Sang-Eun
Effect of the Particle Size and Layer Thickness of GNP Fillers on the Dielectric Properties and Actuated Strain of GNP–PDMS Composites
title Effect of the Particle Size and Layer Thickness of GNP Fillers on the Dielectric Properties and Actuated Strain of GNP–PDMS Composites
title_full Effect of the Particle Size and Layer Thickness of GNP Fillers on the Dielectric Properties and Actuated Strain of GNP–PDMS Composites
title_fullStr Effect of the Particle Size and Layer Thickness of GNP Fillers on the Dielectric Properties and Actuated Strain of GNP–PDMS Composites
title_full_unstemmed Effect of the Particle Size and Layer Thickness of GNP Fillers on the Dielectric Properties and Actuated Strain of GNP–PDMS Composites
title_short Effect of the Particle Size and Layer Thickness of GNP Fillers on the Dielectric Properties and Actuated Strain of GNP–PDMS Composites
title_sort effect of the particle size and layer thickness of gnp fillers on the dielectric properties and actuated strain of gnp–pdms composites
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9502295/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36145966
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/polym14183824
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