Thin film in-plane actuator: Assessment of monolayer and bilayer mechanical output

Abstract
This article shows that in an in-plane configuration a thin film and a bulk actuators deliver the same amount of mechanical power under the same voltage. This opens the possibility to reach more powerful actuators while keeping the same geometric dimensions by simply stacking these films. It also demonstrates that the effective transverse-plane piezoelectric coefficient is constant with electric field which is a crucial result for this actuator.