High-Performance, Transparent and Flexible Antenna Based on Conductive Nanocomposites

Transparent antennas and radio-frequency (RF) components have recently attracted much attention because they can be monolithically integrated with lighting and photodetection devices for creating compact and multi-functional modules. In this work, we theoretically studied and experimentally manufactured high-performance, large-area conductive nanocomposites, which provide the unprecedented optical transparency (~96%) and moderately high electric conductivity (~ 12.5 Ω/sq). We have experimentally demonstrated several transparent antennas working at different frequencies: a flexible printed dipole antenna (2.95 GHz), a high-gain Fabry-Perot (FP) cavity antenna based on the optically-transparent metasurface (8 GHz), and a multifunctional RF -solar energy harvesting platform (~2.4 GHz). Our high-performance transparent antennas may find a broad range of applications in future wearable electronics and internet-of-thing (IoT).