2.45 GHz Silicone-based Rectenna: Manufacturing Techniques and Design

Flexible antennas are raising increasing interests especially when implemented to provide energy to sensors in wearable contexts. The exploitation of polymer-based substrates such as silicones, have paved the way to innovative solutions that are a promising tradeoff between performance and ease of customization. To enable this, fabrication techniques that combine inkjet printing with PDMS casting have provided a more agile realization of such devices. This work proposes the design process of a rectenna system operating at 2.45 GHz to be used in wearable wireless power transfer applications. A two-component PDMS compound, Silpuran® 6000/05 A/B, has been exploited to create a flexible substrate, whose geometry can be easily customized with specific thickness to favor the rectenna performance. An experimental campaign has allowed the electromagnetic characterization of the polymer and subsequently the linear and nonlinear subnetwork of the rectenna system have been optimized by means of electromagnetic/nonlinear co-simulation. The prototype of the radiating element has been realized and experimentally validated showing promising performance, leading this system to be a remarkably attractive solution for flexible and wearable radiofrequency frontends.