Small, fast, and tough: Shrinking down integrated elastomer transducers

Abstract

We review recent progress in miniaturized dielectric elastomer actuators, sensors and energy harvesters. We focus primarily on configurations where the large strain, high compliance, stretchability and high level of integration offered by dielectric elastomer transducers provide significant advantages over other mm or m-scale transduction technologies. We first present the most active application areas, including: tunable optics, soft robotics, haptics, micro fluidics, biomedical devices and stretchable sensors. We then discuss the fabrication challenges related to miniaturization, such as thin membrane fabrication, precise patterning of compliant electrodes, and reliable batch fabrication of multilayer devices. We finally address the impact of miniaturization on strain, force and driving voltage, as well as the important effect of boundary conditions on the performance of mm-scale DEAs.