A paper by researchers from the Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering was published as the cover article in the journal “Materials & Design”

The paper “Cost- and process-efficient conductive composites as electrodes for dielectric elastomer devices and their electromechanical analysis” (Junhao Ni, Arjun Satheesh, Yiming Ji, Carola Böhmer, Andreas Richter, Sven Wießner, Gerald Gerlach, E.-F. Markus Vorrath) was published in the journal “Materials & Design” in August 2026.

The research team has developed a new, cost-effective, and easy-to-manufacture ink that can conduct electricity and is suitable for artificial muscles in robots or medical devices. This ink consists of tiny carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and a flexible silicone (PDMS). They investigated how the ink behaves at different mixing ratios and determined the best way to use it to ensure that the artificial muscles are particularly flexible and durable.

The results are intended to provide a practical and cost-effective electrode solution that can be used in particular for larger and multilayer artificial muscles (dielectric elastomer actuators).

“Materials and Design” is an internationally recognized journal that publishes articles in the fields of materials science and materials-oriented design.

Read the full article here:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264127526011469

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Scientific associate

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Mr Junhao Ni

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Chair of Microsystems

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