Back-relaxation — a phenomenon, where the ionic electro-active polymer actuator in its excited state decays back towards its initial shape — is commonly associated with the aqueous IPMC and explained with leak of water. Regardless of the absence of the fluent liquid, the dry actuators with electrodes made of carbon and ionic liquid as electrolyte, exhibit similar side effect. We show that by means of their long-term transient spatial actuation, moment of force, and back-relaxation, the behavior of the carbon-based actuators is comparable to the water-based IPMC actuators.

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