New electro-active paper actuator using conducting polypyrrole: actuation behaviour in LiClO4 acetonitrile solution

The construction of electromechanical actuator has been achieved by using the conducting polypyrrole films deposition onto a gold-coated cellophane paper. This is probably the first report of this type of paper actuator. The conducting polypyrrole was electro-generated using either galvanostatic or potentiostatic conditions at 0.5 mA/cm2 current density or 0.7 V applied potential, respectively. The two types of actuators were constructed, namely: (1) Ppy/cellophane bi-layer; (2) Ppy/cellophane paper/Ppy tri-layer. These actuators showed a reversible and reproducible displacement in acetonitrile solution containing LiClO4 (1 M). The maximum displacement of 9.1 mm was recorded for tri-layer device and 3.5 mm for bi-layer device in 1 M LiClO4 acetonitrile solutions. The results obtained in acetonitrile solution containing 1 M LiClO4 shows that the actuator requires very low excitation voltage of 0.2 MV m−1. The mechanism for this paper actuation phenomenon is addressed in this paper.