volume | PIER Journals

Abstract

Coplanar monopole antennas printed using copper oxide nanoparticles on flexible substrates are characterized in order to study the effect of the ink drop spacing on the antenna parameters. Polyethylene Terephthalate and Epson paper were the chosen flexible substrates, and the antennas were designed to operate at 20 GHz. A maximum conductivity of 2.8×10⁷ Ω⁻¹m⁻¹ was obtained for the films printed on Polyethylene Terephthalate using a drop spacing of 20 μm. The corresponding antenna achieved a gain and an efficiency of 1.82 dB and 97.6%, respectively. Experiments showed that smaller drop spacings lead to bulging of the printed lines while the antenna performance worsens for longer ones. At the same drop spacing, antennas printed on Epson paper substrate showed a -10 dB return loss bandwidth which extended from 17.9 GHz to 23.3 GHz, leading to a fractional bandwidth of 26.0%.

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Dr. Shaimaa Mohassieb

Dr. Khaled Kirah

Dr. Edgar Dorsam

Dr. Ahmed Saad G. Khalil

Professor Hadia El-Hennawy