In the early 1990s, ionic polymer-metal composites (IPMCs) were developed and shown to exhibit electroactive properties far superior to previous EAPs. The major advantage of IPMCs was that they were able to show activation (deformation) at voltages as low as 1 or 2 volts. This is orders of magnitude less than any previous EAP. Not only was the activation energy for these materials much lower, but they could also undergo much larger deformations. IPMCs were shown to exhibit anywhere up to 380% strain, orders of magnitude larger than previously developed EAPs.