We have reported that nonionic gel of ploy(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) swollen with dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) responds to an electric field rapidly with a large and reversible deformation, which includes a spherical bending motion to the anode side and a contraction in the direction of an electric field. The electrically induced strain in the polymer gel has ben suggested to be due to electrically induced unidirectional movement of solvent in the gel. The chemically crosslinked polymer gels used here, which had only about 2wt% of polymer content and far much larger amount of solvent in the gel networks, were a good elastic body to suffer a large mechanical deformation. Here, we discussed mechanical properties of the gel under and out of the application of an electric field, and also the interaction between the polymer network and solvent. The electrically induced deformation was discussed, as well, on the proportionality of strain to the square of an electric field for both of the bending motion to the anode side and the contracting motion in the field direction. Furthermore, we drove out the electrically induced solvent force in the gel under various conditions, and demonstrated that the electroactive non-ionic gel can be used in some mechanical devices.
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