Determination of the actuator sensitivity of electromechanical polypropylene films by atomic force microscopy

The actuator functionality of electromechanical polypropylene films was studied using atomic force microscopy. The film carries a permanent electric charge and includes microbubbles as a result of two-dimensional stretching of the film. The thickness change of various film structures covered with electrodes was measured as a function of external voltage. The dependence was found to be nonlinear, the thickness change in the range 0.001%–0.1% of the total film thickness and affected by the internal charge density of the film. Applying a capacitor model including an air gap within the polymer layer enabled the determination of the Young’s modulus, the interfacial charge density and the actuator sensitivity of the studied structures.