  We examine the stability of a soft dielectric plate deformed by the coupled
effects of a mechanical pre-stress applied on its lateral faces and an electric
field applied through its thickness under charge control. The electric field is
created by spraying charges on the major faces of the plate: although in
practice this mode of actuation is harder to achieve than a voltage-driven
deformation, here we find that it turns out to be much more stable in theory
and in simulations.
  First we show that the electromechanical instability based on the Hessian
criterion associated with the free energy of the system does not occur at all
for charge-driven dielectrics for which the electric displacement is linear in
the electric field. Then we show that the geometric instability associated with
the formation of small-amplitude wrinkles on the faces of the plate that arises
under voltage control does not occur either under charge control. This is in
complete contrast to voltage-control actuation, where Hessian and wrinkling
instabilities can occur once certain critical voltages are reached.
  For the mechanical pre-stresses, two modes that can be implemented in
practice are used: equi-biaxial and uni-axial. We confirm the analytical and
numerical stability results of homogeneous deformation modes with Finite
Element simulations of real actuations, where inhomogeneous fields may develop.
We find complete agreement in the equi-biaxial case, and very close agreement
in the uni-axial case, when the pre-stress is due to a dead-load weight. In the
latter case, the simulations show that small inhomogeneous effects develop near
the clamps, and eventually a compressive lateral stress emerges, leading to a
breakdown of the numerics.
