A large-scale effort was carried out to test the performance of seven types of ionic electroactive polymer (IEAP) actuators in space-hazardous environmental factors in laboratory conditions. The results substantiate that the IEAP materials are tolerant to long-term freezing and vacuum environments as well as ionizing Gamma-, X-ray and UV radiation at the levels corresponding to low Earth orbit (LEO) conditions. The main aim of this material behaviour investigation is to understand and predict device service time for prolonged exposure to space environment.

Electromechanically active polymers (EAPs) change their shape in response to the voltage stimulus. They can be used as actuators or sensors. Several researchers have introduced different materials and assembling methods for EAPs. It is generally accepted that the porous structure of electrodes with possibly high specific surface area can greatly improve the actuation performance. In this paper, carbon aerogel is introduced as a new material for fabrication of nanoporous electrodes for EAP actuators. Using the direct assembly process (DAP), carbon–ionic liquid EAPs with either activated or non-activated carbon aerogel electrodes are prepared and analyzed. Their electrochemical and electromechanical characteristics are presented and compared to our recently reported actuators based on carbide-derived carbon and activated carbon electrodes. The results show that our newly developed actuators with activated carbon aerogel electrodes and non-activated carbon aerogel electrodes have maximum strains of 1.2% and 1.3%, respectively, which are comparable to the parameters reported previously for carbide-derived carbon and activated carbon based actuators and also to any other low-voltage driven EAP actuators.