High out-of-plane deformation cone dielectric elastomer actuator via partitioned applied voltage

Abstract The cone dielectric elastomer actuator (CDEA), which generates out-of-plane axisymmetric deformation under the action of electric field and mechanical force, has attracted a lot of attention and can be used in the design of soft robots. In this work, a novel method to increase its out-of-plane displacement is proposed. The ring-shaped electrode is divided into inner and outer parts, and voltages are applied separately. Experimental results show that this method can effectively improve the out-of-plane displacement. A theoretical model is developed to reveal the mechanism of the method and the theoretical results agree well with the experimental results. The influence of the initial voltage and area of the inner electrode on the out-of-plane displacement is analyzed. Furthermore, a CDEA-based pump module is developed to verify the applicability of the method.