Sodium alginate-chitosan hydrogel-based soft ionic artificial muscle with different moisture content

Due to the efficiency of ion movement is greatly affected by moisture environment, this article explores the effects of the changing the moisture content of the self-degraded ionic hydrogel-based electrolyte layer made of sodium alginate and chitosan on the improvement of the electromechanical properties of the soft ionic actuator. Specifically, sodium alginate-chitosan ionic hydrogel-based soft ionic actuator is fabricated and analyzed by voltammetry analysis, AC impedance, charge and discharge, electrical conductivity, displacement, and output force. Furthermore, the further application of this soft ionic actuator on bionic flytrap is developed and discussed. The results show that soft ionic actuator with the moisture content of 78.64% has the best electromechanical properties. Furthermore, soft ionic actuators with different moisture contents show different degrees of deflection due to the shift of the anions to the cathode under charged conditions. Therefore, it can be found that moisture content is beneficial to improve the electromechanical properties of ionic hydrogel-based soft artificial muscle.