Design and properties of calcium copper titanate/poly(dimethyl siloxane) dielectric elastomer composites

The high phase content of inorganic dielectric fillings will give a strong electric driving force and hard matrix. That is a contradiction in enhancing the electro-deformation of dielectric elastomers (DEs). Therefore, in this paper, by focusing on how to approach a balance between these and finding an effective way to tune the electric response of the DEs, the theoretical calculation and experimental investigation based on calcium copper titanate (CCTO)/poly(dimethyl siloxane) (PDMS) were carried out. It is found that CCTO with a smaller particle size shows a larger dielectric parameter. With smaller CCTO particle as the fillings, the fabricated elastomer composite would approach to a low modulus by a proper CCTO phase morphology in the matrix.