Polyaniline fibres containing single walled carbon nanotubes: Enhanced performance artificial muscles

Organic conducting fibres based on either inherently conducting polymers (polyaniline) or carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have previously been produced. In this work the integration of CNTs into polyaniline fibres has been achieved using wet spinning techniques. It is shown that addition of small amounts of CNTs significantly improves the mechanical, electronic and electrochemical properties of the polyaniline fibre. These improved properties result in increased electromechanical actuation when used as artificial muscle fibres. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.