Fundamental study on application of piezoelectric chiral polymer to new soft actuator

Abstract

We designed a new polymer film transducer that can generate a surface acoustic wave. The transducer is fabricated by rolling a piezoelectric poly(l-lactic acid) (PLLA) film into a long thin roll (PLLA film roll transducer). The PLLA film roll transducer induced the rotation of an object placed its the upper end face via the torque caused by the generated surface acoustic wave. Moreover, a noteworthy experimental result is that the clockwise and counterclockwise rotation of the object can be freely controlled by changing the frequency of the ac voltage applied to the PLLA film roll transducer. We emphasize that no special complex mechanical parts were used in this study.