RESEARCH AND INTERESTS Our Soft Materials Research Laboratory studies electroactive polymers and nanostructured hybrid materials. The research focuses on molecular synthesis and nanofabrication for the development of new polymers and nanostructures with desired electronic, photonic, and/or mechanical properties. The applications of these materials are many folds, including flexible electronics, artificial muscles, photovoltaics, wind energy generation, radiation detection and protection, and biologically-inspired systems to name a few. Current activities include: Artificial Muscles: These are based on dielectric elastomers exhibiting electrically-induced strains as high as 300%. The polymer transducers have such advantages as high energy and power densities, quietness, mechanical compliancy (for shock resistance and impedance matching), high efficiency, lightweight, and low cost. To improve the device performance and reliability, interpenetrating polymer networks are being studied as a new generation of electroelastomers. Fault tolerance is being introduced as a means to prolong operation lifetime. Our projects involve mechanical design, fabrication, and testing of polymer actuators and generators. Bistable electroactive polymer has been introduced for large-strain, rigid-to-rigid actuation. This material is being employed to fabricate Braille electronic readers.