Versatile fabrication of PDMS-carbon electrodes for silicone dielectric elastomer transducers

We report a novel method for the fabrication of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-carbon composite electrodes for silicone dielectric elastomer transducers. The methodology combines patterning by laser ablation and oxygen plasma induced bonding, producing stretchable and flexible devices with exceptional electrode adhesion and high mechanical robustness. The methodology also offers great flexibility in the size and scale of electrode designs; we demonstrate this in the fabrication of flexible bending actuators > 10 cm long and interdigitated capacitive sensors with micro-scale features.