Enhanced electro-mechanical actuation strain in polyaniline nanorods/silicone rubber nanodielectric elastomer films.

Nanodielectric elastomer films consisting of a silicone rubber as the matrix and conductive polyaniline nanorods (PANI-NR) as the filler were fabricated and their electro-mechanical actuation performance was investigated. The nanodielectric elastomers displayed a typical insulator-toconductor transition as the content of PANI-NR increased. The percolation threshold was observed to show a relatively low value of 5.2 vol. %, which should be mainly ascribed to the onedimensional structure of the nanorods. As the concentration of PANI-NR approached to the percolation threshold, the electro-mechanical actuation strain of the elastomer films was significantly enhanced. The actuation coefficient of nanodielectric elastomer films with only 4.0 vol.% PANI-NR loading was about 5 times higher than that of pure silicone rubber matrix. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]