A broadband rectenna for harvesting low-power RF energy

This paper presents a broadband rectenna using the coplanar stripline (CPS). The radiator of the rectenna is a T-match dipole printed on a substrate. A silicon Schottky diode is shunted across the CPS as a rectifying device. The T-match dipole is designed to directly match the rectifying circuit within the operation band so that the bandpass filter between the antenna and rectifying circuit is eliminated. The RF-DC conversion efficiency of the rectenna is higher than 30% within the band from 1.7 GHz to 2.1 GHz at -2.5 dBm received power on a 857 Ω load, and the highest efficiency is 62.4%.