Low-Profile Antenna Integrated With Solar Cells for the 2.4 GHz Band

A novel low-profile microstrip antenna integrated with solar cells is presented. In this design, 20 solar cells are assembled for the antenna radiation structure, which can not only be used for communication but also generate dc energy via the photoelectric effect. A low profile of 0.024λ
₀
has been achieved with a relative bandwidth of 15.5%, where λ
₀
is the wavelength of 2.4 GHz at free space. Satisfactory impedance matching has been obtained with -10 dB bandwidth from 2.2 to 2.57 GHz. Parasitic solar cell structures are introduced to augment the antenna gain. Broadside radiation performance has been realized and the measured gain at 2.4 GHz is 8.55 dBi. The ratio of the solar cell over the total area is 51% and an optical experiment is conducted for its ability of dc power generation.