Improved electromechanical properties of polydimethylsiloxane composites with sandwich structured Al(OH)₃@GO nanosheets

Abstract Dielectric elastomer can undergo reversible deformation under external electric field, which was seen as the next generation drives for its excellent performance. Increasing the actuated strain under low electric field is a crucial strategy to further broaden the utilization range of dielectric elastomers. Herein, a sandwich structured aluminum hydroxide@graphene oxide (Al(OH)₃@GO) nanosheets were fabricated by the bottom‐up method, and the hybrid was incorporated into the PDMS matrix to form dielectric elastomer composite. The presence of insulating Al(OH)₃ layer can impede the creation of conductive pathways and hinder the occurrence of leakage currents, thus the composite presents a high dielectric constant value under a low loss. As a result, the Al(OH)₃@GO/PDMS‐0.7% composite exhibited excellent performance with the best actuated strain value of 23.61% under a field of 44.52 kV/mm, which was 4.8 times that of pure PDMS. Meanwhile, the maximum electromechanical coupling efficiency (k) of Al(OH)₃@GO/PDMS‐0.7% composite was 0.645, which was twice larger than VHB 4910. This work provided a reliable avenue for studying dielectric elastomer materials with excellent electromechanical properties. Highlights A new kind of sandwich‐like structured Al(OH)₃@GO hybrids are fabricated. Effects of Al(OH)₃@GO on the dielectric properties of composites are studied. The insulating Al(OH)₃ layer can hinder occurrence of leakage currents. Al(OH)₃@GO/PDMS composites exhibited improved electromechanical properties. Composites with high actuated strain 23.61% under 44.52 kV/mm are developed.