Actuation of Shape Memory Polymer by Resistive Heating of Carbon Nanopaper

To electrically activate the shape recovery in a styrene-based shape-memory polymer (SMP) by coating with conductive carbon nanofiber paper has been demonstrated in this paper. Carbon nanofibers in the form of paper sheet in combination with SMP significantly improve the electrical and thermal conductivity of polymer, leading to the actuation of SMP/nanopaper composite (with 15% volume fraction of carbon nanopaper, dimension of 10.0 cm × 0.5 cm × 0.3 cm) can be carried out by applying 8.4 V voltage, with response time of 140 s. Therefore, electrical conductivity of 6.6 S/cm is obtained. This approach, although demonstrated in styrene-based polymer, is applicable to other type of SMP materials. Furthermore, the morphologies of carbon nanofiber in the form of paper is observed by scanning electron microscopy, and the thermomechanical properties of composites are measured and analyzed by dynamic mechanical analysis.