Direct Measurement of Extension and Force in Conductive Polymer Gel Actuators

Preliminary measurements of extension and force of polythiophene-based conductive polymer gel actuators under an applied square-wave pulse (0.8 to −0.5 V) for a variety of periods (2, 10, and 20 min) are reported. Over each interval the axial change in dimension is approximately 2%. The extension is not fully recovered at the end of each reduction pulse, producing a net increase in the axial length of the specimen over the course of the test.