A mesoporous carbon polymer actuator with superior performance to that of single-walled carbon nanotube polymer actuators

The electrochemical and electromechanical properties of poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) actuators prepared using a nongraphitized mesoporous carbon black (MCB)–ionic liquid (IL) gel electrode formed without ultrasonication were compared with those of actuators prepared using carbon black (CB), multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs). The double-layer capacitances for the MCB/IL electrodes were larger than that for the CB/IL electrode. In particular, the double-layer capacitance for the MCB/EMI[BF4] electrode was larger than that for other MCB-based electrodes. Over a wide frequency range of 0.005–1.0 Hz, the strain produced by the MCB/EMI[BF4] actuator was larger than that of the other MCB-based actuators. This suggests that there is a relationship between the pore size in the MCB and the IL anion size. The maximum strain value for the MCB/EMI[BF4] actuator was larger than that for the non-MCB-based actuators, and in particular, was about 1.5 times larger than that for the SWCNT-based actuators. Thus, an MCB-based actuator formed without ultrasonication exhibited a performance that surpassed those of the CB- and SWCNT-based actuators. Consequently, it could generate sufficient strain for real-world applications without the need for specialized SWCNTs.