Silicone Elastomers Utilized As Dielectric Elastomers in Various Applications

Dielectric elastomers with larger strains are heavily pursued in the dielectric elastomer society and here silicone elastomers are a natural choice. However, silicone elastomers suffer from low inherent dielectric permittivity and can thus store as much energy as desired when utilized as an energy harvester. The most common technique of increasing the dielectric permittivity of the elastomer causes the dielectric losses to skyrocket and this side effect of the actuation strain optimization is usually ignored. Various approaches to obtaining silicone elastomers with specific properties are discussed in the context of silicone elastomers used in wave harvesting technologies based on dielectric elastomers.