Bending effects on wearable antenna with silver nanowires and polydimethylsiloxane

Abstract

This paper presents an investigation of an inset-fed microstrip patch antenna designed with silver nanowires (AgNWs) radiating patch and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrate. Highly conductive and stretchable radiating element AgNWs is embedded in flexible and durable PDMS elastomer. The antenna is designed to be wearable and flexible for body-centric wireless communications (BCWCs) applications, specifically in the 2.45 GHz Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM) band. The radiation characteristics are simulated and analyzed when the antenna is under flat and bent conditions. The proposed antenna demonstrates good performance for H-plane and E-plane bending orientations. The antenna offers great mechanical flexibility and robustness, which indicates its good potential for BCWCs applications.