ELECTROCHEMICAL ACTUATION OF NANOPOROUS GOLD DEFORMED BY COMPRESSION

The electrochemical actuation performance of nanoporous gold samples deformed by compression was investigated. Although the porosity and specific surface area decrease with increasing compression strain, the strain amplitude of actuation which were measured along the compression direction, increases and then decreases with increasing compression strain. The compression also greatly increases the strain energy density of nanoporous gold actuator. The improvement of actuation performance is attributed to the morphology change of nanoporous structure during compression. The understanding of the underlying mechanism requires quantitative characterization of morphology and morphological evolution of nanoporous structure during compression.