Electrolysis-based parylene-balloon actuators

This work reports the design, fabrication, testing and modeling of electrolysis-based fully encapsulated parylene balloon actuators. The proposed actuators have the advantage of high force at low power and low voltage. The main issues are low actuation speed and limited number of actuation cycles due to loss of water by permeation through the balloon membrane. In our case, the actuators are targeted to move neuroprobes after implantation, where slow movement is acceptable but low power consumption is of demand