Preparation and characterization of electrostrictive polyurethane films with conductive polymer electrodes

✍ Scribed by Ji Su; Qiming Zhang; Pen-Cheng Wang; Alan. G. MacDiarmid; Kenneth J. Wynne

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 371 KB
• Volume: 9
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1042-7147
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-1581(199806)9:6<317::aid-pat758>3.0.co;2-y

✦ Synopsis

All-polymer electrostrictive soft films were developed for the first time by depositing conductive polymer (polypyrrole) directly on both sides of solution-cast electrostrictive polyurethane elastomer films. The final composite films are flexible with strong adhesion between the polyurethane film and the conductive polymer electrode. The conductivity (sheet resistivity $1000 / &), of the polymer electrode is appropriate for its intended use. The compatible interface between the polypyrrole electrode polymer and the electrostrictive polyurethane significantly improves the acoustic and optical transparency of these composite films, compared with using a metal electrode film. The all-polymer films also exhibit comparable dielectric properties to goldelectroded polyurethane films in the temperature range from À40 °C to 80 °C. The temperature range covers the soft segment glass transition temperature of the polyurethane elastomers, which is about À20 °C. The films also show large electric field induced strain responses which are dependent on film thickness and measurement frequency. The electrostrictive characteristics in the allpolymer films show similarities to those of the films with gold electrodes under identical measurement conditions.