Advancements and Challenges in Antenna Design and Rectifying Circuits for Radio Frequency Energy Harvesting

Abstract

The proliferation of smart devices increases the demand for energy-efficient, battery-free technologies essential for sustaining IoT devices in Industry 4.0 and 5G networks, which require zero maintenance and sustainable operation. Integrating radio frequency (RF) energy harvesting with IoT and 5G technologies enables real-time data acquisition, reduces maintenance costs, and enhances productivity, supporting a carbon-free future. This survey reviews the challenges and advancements in RF energy harvesting, focusing on far-field wireless power transfer and powering low-energy devices. It examines miniaturization, circular polarization, fabrication challenges, and efficiency using the metamaterial-inspired antenna, concentrating on improving diode nonlinearity design. This study analyzes key components such as rectifiers, impedance matching networks, and antennas, and evaluates their applications in biomedical and IoT devices. The review concludes with future directions to increase bandwidth, improve power conversion efficiency, and optimize RF energy harvesting system designs.