In the past decade, the development of theory has deeply revealed the electromechanical coupling deformation mechanism of dielectric elastomer (DE). Many theoretical predictions on highly nonlinear deformation of dielectric elastomer have been verified by experiments. With the guidance of theory, the voltage-induced areal strain of dielectric elastomer has been increased from 100% in the pioneering work to the current record of 2200% and the energy density of a dielectric elastomer generator has reached 780 mJ/g. Much more developments have been realized on the applications of DE transducers in the fields of bioinspired artificial muscles, soft robotics, tunable lenses, and haptic interfaces. However, there is a gap between theory and application. Great potentials of developing DE transducers with the aid of a systematic theory have yet to be explored. This paper reviews the recent advances in the theory of dielectric elastomer and demonstrates some examples of using theory to design DE transducers. 9 boundary value problems of DE structures are analyzed from the simplest homogeneous deformation of a flat membrane to the highly complex bifurcations of a tube. Comparisons between theory and experiment are discussed. The viscous effect and the vibration of dielectric elastomer are reviewed. The developments of DE transducers and new dielectric materials are also reviewed. We summarize the performance of existing DE transducers with different configurations and make some discussions. It is hoped that the mechanics of DE structures can help to develop high-performance DE transducers in the future.

在过去的十年中，理论的发展深刻地揭示了介电弹性体（DE）的机电耦合变形机理。实验证明了许多有关介电弹性体高度非线性变形的理论预测。在理论的指导下，介电弹性体的电压感应面应变已从开创性工作的100％增加到目前的2200％的记录，介电弹性体发生器的能量密度已达到780 mJ / g。DE换能器在生物启发的人造肌肉，软机器人，可调透镜和触觉界面领域的应用已经实现了更多的发展。但是，理论与应用之间存在差距。借助系统理论开发DE换能器的巨大潜力尚待探索。本文回顾了介电弹性体理论的最新进展，并展示了一些使用该理论设计DE换能器的实例。从平面膜的最简单均匀变形到管的高度复杂分叉，分析了DE结构的9个边值问题。讨论了理论与实验之间的比较。综述了介电弹性体的粘滞效应和振动。还回顾了DE换能器和新型介电材料的发展。我们总结了具有不同配置的现有DE换能器的性能，并进行了一些讨论。