Flexible Broadband Rectifying Array Antenna Based on Printed Liquid Metal

As an essential component for wireless power transmission and energy harvesting (EH), rectennas have received increasing attention in recent years. This article presents a flexible rectenna design based on a printed liquid metal additive manufacturing process, offering advantages, such as low cost, high reliability, repeatability, and excellent mechanical adaptability. Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is used as the substrate, providing high flexibility and good conformability. The proposed rectenna consists of a Chebyshev-fed linear monopole antenna array and a compact rectifying circuit. The antenna achieves a gain exceeding 7 dBi over the 2–3-GHz frequency range, with a gain of 9.8 dBi at 2.4 GHz and radiation efficiency above 80%. It also exhibits a wide beamwidth, with a half-power beamwidth (HPBW) of 98° in the H-plane at 3 GHz, allowing for bidirectional radiation. The rectifier shows over 40% efficiency at 0-dBm input power, above 60% at 10 dBm, and retains 28% efficiency at −12 dBm. Finally, the integrated rectenna was evaluated under various conformal conditions, confirming its stable performance.