TY - JOUR
T1 - Standalone stretchable RF systems based on asymmetric 3D microstrip antennas with on-body wireless communication and energy harvesting
AU - Zhang, Senhao
AU - Zhu, Jia
AU - Zhang, Yingying
AU - Chen, Zhensheng
AU - Song, Chaoyun
AU - Li, Jiuqiang
AU - Yi, Ning
AU - Qiu, Donghai
AU - Guo, Kai
AU - Zhang, Cheng
AU - Pan, Taisong
AU - Lin, Yuan
AU - Zhou, Honglei
AU - Long, Hao
AU - Yang, Hongbo
AU - Cheng, Huanyu
N1 - Funding Information:
H.Y. acknowledges the supports provided by the International Partnership Program of the Chinese Academy of Science (Grant no. 154232KYSB20200016 ), the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant no. 2020YFC2007400 ), and the Key Research and Development Program of Jiangsu Province (Grant no. BE2021012-1 ). H.C. acknowledges the supports provided by the National Science Foundation (NSF) (Grant no. ECCS-1933072 ), the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health under Award no. R61HL154215 , the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering of the National Institutes of Health under Award no. R21EB030140 and Penn State University. The partial support from various Penn State Seed Grants provided by the Center for Biodevices, the College of Engineering, and the Center for Security Research and Education is also acknowledged. S.Z. would like to acknowledge Qi Lu’s love and parents’ support, as well as the help from Jingxin Lu, Benkun Bao, Han Wu, Dr. Kong on the wireless communication measurement and ambient RF energy harvesting. J.Z. would like to acknowledge the Leighton Riess Graduate Fellowship and Diefenderfer Graduate Fellowship in Engineering at Penn State University.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2022/6/1
Y1 - 2022/6/1
N2 - As an indispensable component, the stretchable antenna with the potential use in wireless communication and radio frequency (RF) energy harvesting can provide future wearable electronics with a low profile and integrated functions. However, mechanical deformations applied to stretchable antennas often lead to a shift of their resonant frequency (i.e., the detuning effect), which limits their applications to strain sensing. In addition, the on-body radiation efficiency of stretchable antennas severely degrades due to lossy human tissues. In this work, we introduce stretchable microstrip antennas with varying 3D configurations for excellent on-body radiation performance. Compared to their 2D counterpart, the stretchable 3D microstrip antennas showcase a strain-insensitive resonance, improved stretchability, and enhanced peak gain. In particular, the optimized peak gain from the stretchable asymmetric 3D microstrip antenna allows it to wirelessly transmit the energy and data at an almost doubled distance, as well as a doubled charging rate from the harvested RF energy. More importantly, the integration of stretchable antenna and rectenna with stretchable sensing and energy storage units can yield a standalone stretchable RF system for future health monitoring of humans and structures. The results from this work can also pave the way for the development of self-powered units with wireless transmission capabilities for stretchable body area networks and smart internet-of-things.
AB - As an indispensable component, the stretchable antenna with the potential use in wireless communication and radio frequency (RF) energy harvesting can provide future wearable electronics with a low profile and integrated functions. However, mechanical deformations applied to stretchable antennas often lead to a shift of their resonant frequency (i.e., the detuning effect), which limits their applications to strain sensing. In addition, the on-body radiation efficiency of stretchable antennas severely degrades due to lossy human tissues. In this work, we introduce stretchable microstrip antennas with varying 3D configurations for excellent on-body radiation performance. Compared to their 2D counterpart, the stretchable 3D microstrip antennas showcase a strain-insensitive resonance, improved stretchability, and enhanced peak gain. In particular, the optimized peak gain from the stretchable asymmetric 3D microstrip antenna allows it to wirelessly transmit the energy and data at an almost doubled distance, as well as a doubled charging rate from the harvested RF energy. More importantly, the integration of stretchable antenna and rectenna with stretchable sensing and energy storage units can yield a standalone stretchable RF system for future health monitoring of humans and structures. The results from this work can also pave the way for the development of self-powered units with wireless transmission capabilities for stretchable body area networks and smart internet-of-things.
KW - 3D structures
KW - Mechanical assembly
KW - On-body wireless communication
KW - RF energy harvesting
KW - Stretchable microstrip antennas
KW - Wearable and bio-integrated electronics
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85125167003&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.nanoen.2022.107069
DO - 10.1016/j.nanoen.2022.107069
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85125167003
SN - 2211-2855
VL - 96
JO - Nano Energy
JF - Nano Energy
M1 - 107069
ER -
