Inkjet-printed monopole antenna and voltage doubler on cardboard for RF energy harvesting

We outline the development of an RF energy harvester manufactured on regular packaging cardboard using the inkjet-printing technology. The harvester is composed of a planar monopole antenna, impedance matching network and a voltage doubler circuit. The paper summarizes the procedure of achieving highly conductive traces on rough and porous cardboard, describes the circuit and antenna design, and presents simulated and measured results.