Design and fabrication of a large-deformed smart sensorized polymer actuator

The demands for actuators featuring biomimetic properties, such as high power density, large strain, and biocompatibility are growing in microrobotics and bioengineering. PPy is one candidate for biomimetic actuator since it is biocompatible, easy to be fabricated by MEMS technique, has large strain, and consumes low energy. In this paper, a novel sensorized polymer actuator which can measure its bending motion precisely with real-time is presented. It is fabricated by integrating polypyrrole(PPy) actuator with polyvinylidenefluoride(PVDF) sensor. Since PVDF is also biocompatible, stable to chemical, flexible, and polymer sensor, it could be well combined with PPy actuator. In experimental results, the proposed actuator shows the feasibility which can not only be actuated with large strain (a few mm) but also produce meaningful signals which made from bending motion and vice versa.