High-Performance Flexible Microwave Antennas with Ultra-high Visible Transparency

In recent years, with the rapid development of internet of things (IoTs) and smart city technologies, there is a growing demand for efficient use of space, power and communication bandwidth. Towards this goal, optically transparent flexible microwave antennas have attracted significant interest by their great integration capability with existing optoelectronic systems and modules, such as building windows, solar panels, and communication networks, etc. Current transparent materials employed for microwave antennas usually suffer from the tradeoff limitation between their optical transparency and electrical conductivity, which directly affects the device performance in the microwave regime [Fig. 1(a)]. Moreover, their limited mechanical flexibility and the associated complex fabrication process might further constrain the materials’ wide applications in low-cost and efficient antenna systems.