Metamaterial absorbers for RF energy harvesting at GSM bands

A major challenges in today’s low-power electronics for smart environments is given by self-sufficient operation. Most low-power electronic devices, such as sensors and portable devices, operate with long-lasting and non-rechargeable batteries, leading to very high maintenance costs. RF energy harvesting could offer a valid alternative to supply low-power devices, eliminating the need to replace batteries. In this paper, a metamaterial-based harvester is proposed for radio frequency energy harvesting within the GSM band. A dual band metamaterial absorber, having very high absorption values (close to 100%) is designed to operate at the 900/1800 MHz GSM frequency bands. The proposed design is very appealing for future implementations of RF energy harvesting from environmental GSM signals.