2014 journal article

Stretchable and Reversibly Deformable Radio Frequency Antennas Based on Silver Nanowires

ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES, 6(6), 4248–4253.

By: L. Song n, A. Myers n, J. Adams n & Y. Zhu n

co-author countries: United States of America 🇺🇸
author keywords: silver nanowire; stretchable antenna; wireless strain sensing; printed electronics; microstrip patch antenna
Source: Web Of Science
Added: August 6, 2018

We demonstrate a class of microstrip patch antennas that are stretchable, mechanically tunable, and reversibly deformable. The radiating element of the antenna consists of highly conductive and stretchable material with screen-printed silver nanowires embedded in the surface layer of an elastomeric substrate. A 3-GHz microstrip patch antenna and a 6-GHz 2-element patch array are fabricated. Radiating properties of the antennas are characterized under tensile strain and agree well with the simulation results. The antenna is reconfigurable because the resonant frequency is a function of the applied tensile strain. The antenna is thus well suited for applications like wireless strain sensing. The material and fabrication technique reported here could be extended to achieve other types of stretchable antennas with more complex patterns and multilayer structures.