Soft actuators based on conducting polymers: recent progress

Deformations of conducting polymer films, such as polyaniline, polypyrrole and polythiophene, induced by electrochemical oxidation and reduction are presented and discussed in terms of the mechanisms. Soft actuators with variety of motions such as bending stick, breathing ring and shouting lip utilizing polypyrrole films are demonstrated. A new operation method is proposed using electrodeposited polypyrrole films.