A Very Compact and High Efficient Rectenna for RF Energy Harvesting Applications

A novel compact rectenna operated for RF energy harvesting applications at 2.45GHz with high radio frequency to direct current (RF-to-DC) conversion efficiency is presented and investigated. The maximum conversion efficiency is 72.7% at 2.45GHz when the input RF power is 12dBm. And the rectenna can maintain high conversion efficiency in a wide input power range. When the input power is between -4dBm and 18dBm, the measured conversion efficiency can reach more than 30%. The Rectenna structure is simple and the size is compact, only 30mm×30mm×0.8mm.