Design of a flexible antenna using printed silver loaded epoxy on PDMS/plastic substrate for wearable applications

Abstract

A design of flexible antenna using printed silver loaded epoxy (SLE) on polydimethylsiloxane/plastic (PDMS/plastic) substrate is demonstrated in this study. The conductive SLE is printed in a PDMS material by using a simple and efficient printing approach in order to produce an alternative cost-effective method for implementing conformal and flexible antenna. The proposed antenna performance is studied and improved by attaching a plastic substrate layer on the PDMS layer. The antenna gain, efficiency and flexibility is significantly improved by utilizing novel materials and effective techniques. The antenna can be integrated to flexible electronic systems for wearable applications.