A buckling dielectric elastomer actuator

A buckling actuator, comprising:

• a first electrode;
• a second electrode;
• and
• a film of a dielectric elastomeric material having a first surface and a second surface sandwiched between the first and second electrodes, the material formed by the random block copolymerisation of:
• a polymeric material comprising silicon or nitrogen atoms that has two or more acrylate or vinyl end groups;
• and
• a polar polymeric material having two or more acrylate or vinyl end groups
• wherein:
• the first electrode is arranged to cover a first electrode area on the first surface of the film of dielectric elastomeric material and the second electrode is arranged to cover a second electrode area on the second surface of the film of dielectric elastomeric material, such that there is a region of overlap between the first and second electrode areas that has an area that is smaller than an area of the first or second surfaces of the film of dielectric elastomeric material.