A Reconfigurable Patch Antenna Using Liquid Metal Embedded in a Silicone Substrate

Mazlouman, Shahrzad Jalali; Jiang, Xing Jie; Mahanfar, A.; Menon, Carlo; Vaughan, Rodney G.

doi:10.1109/tap.2011.2165501

Cited by 80 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…The spectral properties of an antenna are a function of its shape; thus the ability to both physically deform and manipulate the shape of liquid metal offers unique possibilities for tunable and reconfigurable antennas. Liquid metal injected into microchannels has been utilized to make many types of antennas including dipoles ( Figure a,b), loops (Figure c), coils and inductors (Figure d), patch antennas (Figure e), radio‐frequency antennas (Figure f), spherical caps, phase shifting coaxial transmission lines, monopoles, and reconfigurable antennas and filters . There are many more examples that utilize Hg.…”

Section: Stretchable Antennasmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stretchable and Soft Electronics using Liquid Metals

2017

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can be patterned into non-spherical shapes using both conventional and unconventional methods to form highly conductive, durable, and stretchable wires, interconnects, and antennas. The deformation limits of conductors formed with liquid metal are only limited -in principle -by the mechanical properties of the encasing material. The geometrical changes to the metal during deformation can be harnessed to form softer-than-skin sensors of strain and touch. Liquid metals can also be utilized as active components in memory devices, diodes, electrodes, and capacitors built entirely from soft materials. In addition, liquid metals can form circuits that are self-healing and shape-reconfigurable.There are many exciting and promising applications that harness the unique properties of liquid metals. Recent advances, opportunities, and challenges with liquid metals based on gallium within the context of stretchable and soft electronics are discussed here.

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Section: Stretchable Antennasmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stretchable and Soft Electronics using Liquid Metals

2017

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“…Antennas are important components in wireless devices for remote communication and sensing [124]. Several flexible antennas fabricated by liquid metal have been designed for implanted medical devices, interactive gaming and aeronautic remote sensing to avoid the mechanical failure of solid parts due to material fatigue, creep or wear [124][125][126][127] [126]. It was proven to be mechanically flexible and perform stably during flexing.…”

Section: Liquid-metal Antennamentioning

confidence: 99%

Advances in Liquid Metal-Enabled Flexible and Wearable Sensors

2020

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Sensors are core elements to directly obtain information from surrounding objects for further detecting, judging and controlling purposes. With the rapid development of soft electronics, flexible sensors have made considerable progress, and can better fit the objects to detect and, thus respond to changes more sensitively. Recently, as a newly emerging electronic ink, liquid metal is being increasingly investigated to realize various electronic elements, especially soft ones. Compared to conventional soft sensors, the introduction of liquid metal shows rather unique advantages. Due to excellent flexibility and conductivity, liquid-metal soft sensors present high enhancement in sensitivity and precision, thus producing many profound applications. So far, a series of flexible and wearable sensors based on liquid metal have been designed and tested. Their applications have also witnessed a growing exploration in biomedical areas, including health-monitoring, electronic skin, wearable devices and intelligent robots etc. This article presents a systematic review of the typical progress of liquid metal-enabled soft sensors, including material innovations, fabrication strategies, fundamental principles, representative application examples, and so on. The perspectives of liquid-metal soft sensors is finally interpreted to conclude the future challenges and opportunities.2 of 25 to monitor skin strain and muscle movement [32]. Introduction of soft sensors has greatly propelled the development of intelligent artificial skin, which provides not only aesthetic functions, but also perception of tactile sensation and temperature measurement [33,34]. They can also be applied to realize intelligent perception and control for robots [35][36][37]. Moreover, flexible sensors can tightly fit the object and maintain performance even while being stretched. In this way, they can respond to changes more sensitively and detect position and posture alteration in real time.Up to now, materials and techniques to achieve flexible sensors have been widely explored. To obtain better application output for the human body, both flexibility and biocompatibility of the substrates are required. Soft thermoplastic polymers and silicone elastomers are the most common substrates used to fabricate flexible sensors, such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET), poly urethane (PU), polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and Eco Flex [38]. Moreover, the sensing elements are other important parts, which are mainly made up of conductive materials, including organic and inorganic nanomaterials [39,40]. Carbon-based materials, such as carbon nanotube and graphene, have been investigated in various soft circuits [39,[41][42][43][44][45][46]. Although circuits fabricated by carbon-based materials are highly stretchable, they are not as conductive as those fabricated by metals. Nanoparticles of rigid metals are applied to design soft circuits with high conductivity, among which silver nanoparticles have been extensively studied [47][48][49][50][51][52][53]. Moreover, liquid me...

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“…For these reasons interest in liquid metal, as a means of reconfiguring antennas, has grown over the last few years. The feasibilities of pattern-, frequency-, and polarisation-reconfigurable antennas have all been demonstrated in numerous recent publications [1][2][3][4][5]. However, to date, liquid metal has mostly been used to create relatively simple forms of reconfigurable antennas where the movement of liquid metal is used to alter the length of a wire or Manuscript received April 8 th 2019.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Liquid Metal Bandwidth-Reconfigurable Antenna

Alqurashi

Kelly

Wang

et al. 2020

Antennas Wirel. Propag. Lett.

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This paper shows how slugs of liquid metal can be used to connect/disconnect large areas of metalisation and achieve radiation performance not possible by using conventional switches. The proposed antenna can switch its operating bandwidth between ultra-wideband and narrowband by connecting/disconnecting the ground plane for the feedline from that of the radiator. This could be achieved by using conventional semiconductor switches. However, such switches provide point-like contacts. Consequently, there are gaps in electrical contact between the switches. Surface currents, flowing around these gaps, lead to significant back radiation. In this paper, slugs of liquid metal are used to completely fill the gaps. This significantly reduces the back radiation, increases the boresight gain, and produces a pattern identical to that of a conventional microstrip patch antenna. Specifically, the realised gain and total efficiency are increased by 2 dBi and 24%, respectively. The antenna has potential applications in wireless systems employing Cognitive Radio and Spectrum Aggregation.

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A Reconfigurable Patch Antenna Using Liquid Metal Embedded in a Silicone Substrate

Cited by 80 publications

References 16 publications

Stretchable and Soft Electronics using Liquid Metals

Stretchable and Soft Electronics using Liquid Metals

Advances in Liquid Metal-Enabled Flexible and Wearable Sensors

Liquid Metal Bandwidth-Reconfigurable Antenna

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