Effect of electrochemical synthesis conditions on deflection of PEDOT bilayers

The deflection of the electrochemically grown poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) bilayers was shown to depend greatly on the polymerisation potential, as established by measurements of bilayer deflection during chronoamperometry experiments. The reproducibility was tested by polymerising PEDOT bilayers at least three times at the same polymerisation potential. Therefore, PEDOT bilayer films obtained at low polymerisation potentials showed high deflection at oxidation, high actuation speed and good durability, while those values decreased for bilayer films obtained at higher polymerisation potentials. Long term cycling characteristics for a PEDOT bilayer polymerised at a low polymerisation potential (1.05 V versus Ag/AgAgCl) were tested by actuating the film in 11,000 cycles.