2D Titanium carbide printed flexible ultrawideband monopole antenna for wireless communications

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 14; no. 1; p. 278
• Main Authors: Zhao, Weiwei, Ni, Hao, Ding, Chengbo, Liu, Leilei, Fu, Qingfeng, Lin, Feifei, Tian, Feng, Yang, Pin, Liu, Shujuan, He, Wenjun, Wang, Xiaoming, Huang, Wei, Zhao, Qiang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Nature Publishing Group 17.01.2023; Nature Publishing Group UK; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: Adhesives; Antennas; Circuit boards; Data communication; Extrusion; Frequency ranges; Inks; Internet of Things; Monopole antennas; Monopoles; Multilayers; Substrates; Titanium; Titanium carbide; Ultrawideband; Wireless communications
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-35371-6

Flexible titanium carbide (Ti C ) antenna offers a breakthrough in the penetration of information communications for the spread of Internet of Things (IoT) applications. Current configurations are constrained to multi-layer complicated designs due to the limited conformal integration of the dielectric substrate and additive-free Ti C inks. Here, we report the flexible ultrawideband Ti C monopole antenna by combining strategies of interfacial modification and advanced extrusion printing technology. The polydopamine, as molecular glue nano-binder, contributes the tight adhesion interactions between Ti C film and commercial circuit boards for high spatial uniformity and mechanical flexibility. The bandwidth and center frequency of Ti C antenna can be well maintained and the gain differences fluctuate within ±0.2 dBi at the low frequency range after the bent antenna returns to the flat state, which conquers the traditional inelastic Cu antenna. It also achieves the demo instance for the fluent and stable real-time wireless transmission in bending states.