Recycling of dielectric electroactive materials enabled through thermoplastic PDMS

In the green transition, actuators and generators play an essential role in the development of sustainable solutions across a broad range of applications. In this context, dielectric transducers are advocated as one of the most promising solutions in terms of effectiveness, lifetime and running costs. However, they are classically produced as sandwich structures, whereby a cross-linked dielectric material is placed between two compliant electrodes. From a materials consumption viewpoint, this is problematic, since it will inherently result in a loss of material during production as well as inhibit the recycling of expended systems when their life comes to an end. Herein, we present a cleaning method employing surfactants and sonication to remove electrodes from the surface of the dielectric material. By applying a thermoplastic silicone elastomer as the dielectric material, it is possible to reprocess the material by hot-pressing, and to prepare new actuators after the rinsing process. This effectively shows that recycling production scrap, for example, is possible. By comparing the cleaned material with a directly recycled material, it is clear that cleaning removes a critical amount of metals from the material and enables recycling for at least five cycles. Comparatively, a directly recycled material is prone to a high leakage current and premature electronic breakdown after only two cycles. This simple cleaning process, in combination with use of a thermoplastic dielectric material, enables less waste from production as well as the possibility of reclaiming and recycling materials in general.