A highly flexible and stretchable ionic artificial muscle

•An ionic electroactive polymer based on polyvinyl alcohol was developed (PA-iEAP).•The PA-iEAP had excellent electromechanical properties and tensile properties.•A bionic grip is fabricated by observing the bending mechanism of mimosa. [Display omitted] It is well known that ionic electroactive polymer (iEAP)-like artificial muscles with a faster response, greater strength and better tensile strength are critical to improve the electromechanical properties and expand their applications in wearable devices, soft sensors and actuators. Recently, polyvinyl alcohol (PA) hydrogels have greatly attracted attention because of their good tensile properties and biocompatibility. Thus, an ionic electroactive polymer with outstanding flexibility and excellent stretchability was developed based on the plasticizing treatment method by polyvinyl alcohol cross-linked with acrylamide in this work (PA-iEAP). The results showed that the tensile properties and electromechanical properties of PA-iEAP were greatly improved. Additionally, the output force and the peak deflection displacement of PA-iEAP reached 1.6 and 2.73 times those without plasticizing treatment, respectively. A bionic grip fabricated by PA-iEAP imitating mimosa was demonstrated. This work illustrated a kind of green ionic electroactive polymer with a simple method, low cost and outstanding tensile potential, which is very promising for improving the electromechanical properties of artificial muscles in the biomedical field and bionic robotics.