Superior performance of non-activated multi-walled carbon nanotube polymer actuator containing ruthenium oxide over a single-walled carbon nanotube

The electrochemical and electromechanical properties of actuators developed using a non-activated multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT)–ionic liquid (IL) gel electrode containing ruthenium oxide (RuO2) were compared with only-MWCNT and only-single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) based actuators. The double-layer capacitance of the non-activated MWCNT electrode containing RuO2 was larger than that of the only-MWCNT electrode. The non-activated MWCNT polymer actuator containing RuO2 surpassed the performance of the only-MWCNT and only-SWCNT actuators in terms of the strain and maximum generated stress. Both MWCNTs and RuO2 were required to produce large strain and quick response actuators that surpassed the performance of the only-SWCNT polymer actuator and exhibited characteristics sufficient for practical applications (e.g. tactile display).