• Composites Research
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.242-247
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• 2014

The fabrication of flexible electrodes coated on the surface of a dielectric elastomer film, which is a type of electroactive polymer (EAP), was carried out. Controlled amounts of Xylitol powder were added (10, 30, 50 and 70 wt%) to the commercial conductive polymer (PEDOT:PSS) to enhance resilience of the electrode. To check resilience of the fabricated composite electrodes, tensile tests were carried out using silicone films coated with the polymer electrodes. From the test results, it was found that 70 wt% Xylitol containing conductive polymer had excellent elongation and high failure strains. Furthermore, surface of the silicone film was uniformly polished with various abrading papers to enhance the wettability of the conductive polymers on the surface of the silicone film. It was found that the silicone film polished with #120 abrading paper had the best wettability and guaranteed excellent bonding behavior.