Abstract
This work reviews design aspects of liquid metal antennas and their corresponding applications. In the age of modern wireless communication technologies, adaptability and versatility have become highly attractive features of any communication device. Compared to traditional conductors like copper, the flow property and lack of elasticity limit of conductive fluids, makes them an ideal alternative for applications demanding mechanically flexible antennas. These fluidic properties also allow innovative antenna fabrication techniques like 3D printing, injecting, or spraying the conductive fluid on rigid/flexible substrates. Such fluids can also be easily manipulated to implement reconfigurability in liquid antennas using methods like micro pumping or electrochemically controlled capillary action as compared to traditional approaches like high-frequency switching. In this work, we discuss attributes of widely used conductive fluids, their novel patterning/fabrication techniques, and their corresponding state-of-the-art applications.
Highlights
To fulfill the needs of modern wireless communication technologies, reconfigurable antennas, with their adaptability and diversified functionality, have become an increasingly attractive feature in future communication devices
The corrosive nature of Ga towards other metals might reduce long-term stability of antenna performance [24,36,37]. These issues can be addressed by Ni-plating the liquid metals (LMs)/metal pin interface or by treating it with 1-decylphosphonic acid or hydrochloric acid (HCl) vapor [36]
Radiation efficiency was maintained for LM antenna despite a 50% applied strain [75]
Summary
To fulfill the needs of modern wireless communication technologies, reconfigurable antennas, with their adaptability and diversified functionality, have become an increasingly attractive feature in future communication devices. Conventional reconfigurable antennas are generally developed using highly conductive metals such as copper, which results in highly efficient antennas, but lacks mechanical flexibility. Most of the conventional antennas are fabricated by etching the copper cladding on the rigid substrates to form static conductor shapes Such antennas are highly efficient but suffer from irreversible structure deformation and even damage when being bent or stretched beyond certain limits [3]. The electrical properties of these substrates degrade after severe bending/stretching, which in turn reduces antenna efficiency Another option is polymer-based materials such as polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), which has been typically used in combination with copper foils to realize highly flexible antennas. This review paper focuses on the design aspects of materials and fabrication techniques used in development of state-of-the-art liquid metal antennas alongside their applications.
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