• Richert, Claudia
• Keller, Thomas F.
• Huber, Norbert
• Brinker, Manuel
• Dittrich, Guido
• Huber, Patrick
• Lakner, Pirmin
• Krekeler, Tobias

Abstract

The absence of piezoelectricity in silicon makes direct electromechanical applications of this mainstream semiconductorimpossible. Integrated electrical control of the silicon mechanics, however, would open up new perspectivesfor on-chip actuorics. Here, we combine wafer-scale nanoporosity in single-crystalline silicon withpolymerization of an artificial muscle material inside pore space to synthesize a composite that shows macroscopicelectrostrain in aqueous electrolyte. The voltage-strain coupling is three orders of magnitude larger than the best-performingceramics in terms of piezoelectric actuation. We trace this huge electroactuation to the concerted actionof 100 billions of nanopores per square centimeter cross section and to potential-dependent pressures of up to150 atmospheres at the single-pore scale. The exceptionally small operation voltages (0.4 to 0.9 volts), along withthe sustainable and biocompatible base materials, make this hybrid promising for bioactuator applications.

Topics

• impedance spectroscopy
• pore
• semiconductor
• composite
• Silicon
• ceramic