Antagonist concepts of polypyrrole actuators: Bending hybrid actuator and mirrored trilayer linear actuator

Abstract

Following the natural muscle antagonist actuation principle, different adaptations for “ar-tificial muscles” are introduced in this work. Polypyrrole (PPy) films of different polymerization techniques (potentiostatic and galvanostatic) were analyzed and their established responses were combined in several ways, resulting in beneficial actuation modes. A consecutive “one‐pot” electro-synthesis of two layers with the different deposition regimes resulted in an all‐PPy bending hybrid actuator. While in most cases the mixed‐ion activity of conductive polymers has been considered a problem or a drawback, here for the first time, the nearly equal expansions upon oxidation and reduction of carefully selected conditions further allowed to fabricate a “mirrored” trilayer lami-nate, which behaved as a linear actuator.