Enhanced electro-mechanical performance of TiO2 nano-particle modified polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) as electroactive polymers

This paper reports a polymer nano-composite with enhanced electro-mechanical performance by mixing TiO₂ nano-particles into polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) matrix. The nano-composites with TiO₂ concentration up to 30 wt% were synthesized by in-situ polymerization. High energy ball milling and surfactant polyethylene glycol was used to reduce the agglomeration and ensure a stable dispersion. The properties of nano-composites, i.e. transmittance, elastic modulus, response time and dielectric constant, can be tuned by controlling the TiO₂ concentration. The nano-composites were applied in tunable gratings and showed reduced driving voltage and response time, comparing with traditional electroactive polymers (EAPs).