Chapter 24: Ionic Electroactive Actuators with Giant Electromechanical Responses

The very low operation voltages (<5 V) and the large strain responses make the ionic electroactive actuators attractive for many electromechanical device applications. However, the present ionic electroactive actuators still suffer from low strain levers with low elastic energy density (<0.1 J cm⁻³), very low efficiency (<0.1%), and very low actuation speed (more than several seconds). Recently, several approaches were applied to improve the strain responses and actuation speeds based on unique graphene ionic actuators featuring ultra-high strain and elastic energy density with significantly improved efficiency compared with the state-of-the-art.