volume | PIER Journals

Abstract

With the increasing use of radar technology across various fields, electromagnetic pollution has become a growing concern, posing significant risks to human health. Consequently, there is a rising interest in developing wearable, flexible fabric-based absorbers that can efficiently absorb electromagnetic waves. However, the low dielectric constant of fabrics makes it challenging to achieve high absorption rates and broad bandwidth at low frequencies. To address this issue, in this study, we introduce a fabric-based broadband metamaterial absorber using felt as the dielectric substrate. The absorber features a centrosymmetric square block array design, incorporating a PU conductive film as the surface resonant material. By fine-tuning the parameters of each component in the absorber's equivalent circuit and optimizing structural parameters, the absorber achieves an extended bandwidth from 3.92 to 15.25 GHz, with a relative absorption bandwidth of 118.21%. Impressively, in the lower frequency C-band, the absorber maintains an efficiency of over 95%. The absorber was fabricated using the ``cut-transfer-paste patterning method.'' Testing results demonstrate that it is insensitive to incident angle and polarization and retains excellent absorption performance even when being bent.

1. Amit, Verma, Kumar Vijay, and Gupta Shipra, "Bio-effects of 5th generation electromagnetic waves on organs of human beings," Global Health Journal, Vol. 7, No. 4, 206-211, 2023. Google Scholar

2. Rathour, Rochak, Jagatheesan Krishnasamy, Apurba Das, and R. Alagirusamy, "Water vapor transmission and electromagnetic shielding characteristics of stainless steel/viscose blended yarn woven fabrics," Journal of Industrial Textiles, Vol. 53, No. 2, 15280837221149217, 2023. Google Scholar

3. Chen, Tianyu, Fan Zhou, Xudong Cai, Tiantian Liu, Kun Qian, Zhongwei Zhang, Liqun Duan, Xiaoqing Dai, and Kejing Yu, "Flexible electromagnetic wave absorption material: Multiscale synergistic approach to achieve whole X-band absorption and thermal stealth property," Carbon, Vol. 210, 118048, 2023. Google Scholar

4. Shakir, H., Tingkai Zhao, Khadija Zubair, M. Khaqan Sarwar, Z. Rehan, Kinza Fatima, and H. Aziz, "Fabrication and EMI (electromagnetic interference) shielding performance of polyester fabrics coated with polyaniline via in-situ polymerization," Materials Today Communications, Vol. 37, 106971, 2023. Google Scholar

5. Landy, Nathan I., Soji Sajuyigbe, Jack J. Mock, David R. Smith, and Willie J. Padilla, "Perfect metamaterial absorber," Physical Review Letters, Vol. 100, No. 20, 207402, 2008. Google Scholar

6. Alsulami, Qana A., S. Wageh, Ahmed A. Al-Ghamdi, Rana Muhammad Hasan Bilal, and Muhammad Ahsan Saeed, "A tunable and wearable dual-band metamaterial absorber based on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate for sensing applications," Polymers, Vol. 14, No. 21, 4503, 2022. Google Scholar

7. Aqilafif, Naufal, Hadi Teguh Yudistira, and Fitrah Qalbina, "Design of tripartite square ring metamaterial absorber using polyvinyl chloride as a flexible substrate at s-band and c-band spectrums," Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics, Vol. 34, No. 3, 199, 2023. Google Scholar

8. Jing, Huihui, Yiqing Wei, Jinfeng Kang, Chengwei Song, Hao Deng, Junping Duan, Zeng Qu, Jiayun Wang, and Binzhen Zhang, "An optically transparent flexible metasurface absorber with broadband radar absorption and low infrared emissivity," Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, Vol. 56, No. 11, 115103, 2023. Google Scholar

9. Rani, Niti, Aashish Kumar Bohre, and Aniruddha Bhattacharya, "A conformal ultrathin and ultra-wideband metamaterial-based absorber dedicated for applications in C and X bands," SN Computer Science, Vol. 4, No. 5, 490, 2023. Google Scholar

10. Costa, Filippo, Simone Genovesi, Agostino Monorchio, and Giuliano Manara, "A circuit-based model for the interpretation of perfect metamaterial absorbers," IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, Vol. 61, No. 3, 1201-1209, 2012. Google Scholar

11. Lee, Dongju, Hyung Ki Kim, and Sungjoon Lim, "Textile metamaterial absorber using screen printed chanel logo," Microwave and Optical Technology Letters, Vol. 59, No. 6, 1424-1427, 2017. Google Scholar

12. Yang, Yalan, Jianping Wang, Chaoyun Song, Rui Pei, Jayakrishnan M. Purushothama, and Youran Zhang, "Electromagnetic shielding using flexible embroidery metamaterial absorbers: Design, analysis and experiments," Materials & Design, Vol. 222, 111079, 2022. Google Scholar

13. Tak, Jinpil and Jaehoon Choi, "A wearable metamaterial microwave absorber," IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, Vol. 16, 784-787, 2016. Google Scholar

14. Sen, Gobinda, Mukesh Kumar, Sk Nurul Islam, and Santanu Das, "A dual band wearable metamaterial absorber with reduced cross-polarized reflection," 2018 3rd International Conference on Microwave and Photonics (ICMAP), 1-2, Dhanbad, India Feb. 2018.

15. Yang, Yalan, Chaoyun Song, Rui Pei, Jianping Wang, Zhe Liu, Youran Zhang, and Jinzhu Shen, "Design, characterization and fabrication of a flexible broadband metamaterial absorber based on textile," Additive Manufacturing, Vol. 69, 103537, 2023. Google Scholar

16. Singh, Gaganpreet, Harsh Sheokand, Kajal Chaudhary, Kumar Vaibhav Srivastava, J. Ramkumar, and S. Anantha Ramakrishna, "Fabrication of a non-wettable wearable textile-based metamaterial microwave absorber," Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, Vol. 52, No. 38, 385304, 2019. Google Scholar

17. Celenk, Esra, Charles Lynch, and Manos M. Tentzeris, "An ultra-wideband all-textile metamaterial absorber for Ku-, K-, and Ka-band applications," IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, Vol. 23, No. 6, 1789-1793, 2024. Google Scholar

18. Malik, Sudha, Mondeep Saikia, Aditi Sharma, Gaganpreet Singh, Ghosh Saptarshi, Puneet K. Mishra, and Kumar V. Srivastava, "Design and analysis of polarization-insensitive broadband microwave absorber for perfect absorption," Progress In Electromagnetics Research M, Vol. 104, 213-222, 2021. Google Scholar

19. Long, Le Van, Nguyen Sy Khiem, Bui Son Tung, Nguyen Thanh Tung, Trinh Thi Giang, Pham Thanh Son, Bui Xuan Khuyen, Vu Dinh Lam, Liangyao Chen, Haiyu Zheng, and Youngpak Lee, "Flexible broadband metamaterial perfect absorber based on graphene-conductive inks," Photonics, Vol. 8, No. 10, 440, 2021.

Professor Baojun Chen

Mr. Hao Yuan

Professor Yanjie Ju

Prof. Yanbing Xue

Dr. Tianyu Jiao

Dr. Qinghua Liu

Dr. Mengqiu Qian