Significant strain and force improvements of single-walled carbon nanotube actuator: A metal chalcogenides approach

• We evaluated the electrochemical and electromechanical properties of metal chalcogenides (BN, WS2, MoS2) bucky gel actuators.
• An increase of both strain and blocking force of 60% was observed for actuators containing WS2 or MoS2 particles.
• Specific capacitances up to 260 F/g were obtain at higher loading of metal chalcogenides.

Carbon nanotube actuators possess the requirements to be used in soft robotic applications as they are lightweight, simple to assemble and can operate at low voltage. However, there is still a need to further enhance their performances—in particular strain and blocking force—in order to render their implementation in devices more viable. In this study, we report the electrochemical and electromechanical properties of carbon nanotube-polymer actuators containing metal chalcogenides (BN, WS2 and MoS2). We demonstrate that the incorporation of such particles in the carbon-based electrodes results in a remarkable increase of the actuators’ performances. Indeed, by tuning the amount of metal chalcogenides, we improve both the strain and blocking force responses of the actuators by 60%.