Bimorph Type Soft Actuator Based on Conducting Polymer and Its Application to Micro Pump

Various shapes of conducting polymer soft actuators attract the attention in recent years. We have proposed a soft actuator that performs open-close movement and micro pump using soft actuator as a driving source. We have developed a soft actuator that perform open-close movement by arranging a soft actuator in which bimorph structures with anion-driven layers and cation-driven layers are connected and cation-driven layers arranged in face-to-face relation. Moreover, the soft actuator performs optimum open-close movement when the ratio of single layer structures and bimorph structures is 1:2. A planner soft actuator performs open-close movement when slits are set on a wide planner soft actuator. The authors have built up a micro-pump with a planner conducting polymer soft actuator that performs open-close movement as a driving source. Its oscillation volume can be adjusted in the range of 2.2–31 [μ1/min].