Wirelessly driven electro-active paper actuator made with cellulose–polypyrrole–ionic liquid and dipole rectenna

Abstract

This paper reports a wirelessly driven electro-active paper actuator that consists of a dipole rectenna array, a power control circuit and two cellulose–polypyrrole–ionic liquid (CPIL) electro-active paper actuators. The CPIL nanocomposite actuator was fabricated by incorporating nanoscaled PPy onto cellulose by an in situ polymerization technique, which was followed by activation in a room temperature ionic liquid. The CPIL actuator shows its maximum bending displacement of 10 mm at an ambient humidity condition with 30 mW electrical power consumption. The CPIL actuator is very stable in its actuator performance. The dipole rectenna array receives microwaves and converts them to dc power so as to wirelessly supply power to the actuators. Three flexible dipole rectenna arrays are designed, manufactured and characterized. The rectenna array that has nine rectenna elements generates the maximum power of 75 mW. This power was used to successfully activate the two CPIL actuators and the control circuit. Detailed fabrication and characterization of the CPIL actuator and the dipole rectenna array as well as the control circuit are explained.