Digitally Printed Liquid Metal Composite Antenna for Energy Harvesting: Toward Energy‐Autonomous Battery‐Free Wearable Bioelectronics

Abstract Rapid progress on wearable bioelectronics holds the promise for remote patient monitoring. However, there are concerns related with the use of batteries, including the need for frequent charging, user safety, and environmental pollution. The development of rapidly deployable battery‐free pa...

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Main Authors: Miguel Maranha, André F. Silva, Pedro Alhais Lopes, Aníbal T. deAlmeida, Mahmoud Tavakoli
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley-VCH 2023-02-01
Series:Advanced Sensor Research
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1002/adsr.202200025
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author Miguel Maranha
André F. Silva
Pedro Alhais Lopes
Aníbal T. deAlmeida
Mahmoud Tavakoli
author_facet Miguel Maranha
André F. Silva
Pedro Alhais Lopes
Aníbal T. deAlmeida
Mahmoud Tavakoli
author_sort Miguel Maranha
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Rapid progress on wearable bioelectronics holds the promise for remote patient monitoring. However, there are concerns related with the use of batteries, including the need for frequent charging, user safety, and environmental pollution. The development of rapidly deployable battery‐free patches that harvest their energy from external sources is highly desired. Here, untethered battery‐free patches through far‐field energy harvesting are demonstrated. Taking advantage of a stretchable biphasic liquid metal‐based ink and digital fabrication techniques, that is, direct printing, and laser patterning, tailor‐made customized antennas are fabricated over various substrates, including polydimethylsiloxane, Kapton, and wound‐dressing medical‐grade adhesives. Folded dipole and planar inverted‐F antennas (PIFA) are evaluated and they are optimized for an over‐the‐body scenario. Compared to previous works that only show communication of data at <1 Hz, here, battery‐free acquisition and transmission of electrocardiogram (ECG) data at 100 Hz via Bluetooth is demonstrated. It is shown that using 3 parallel PIFA antennas, it is possible to harvest ≈10 mW at 30 cm from the transmitter, which is ≈7× the required power by the ECG circuit. This study proves the feasibility of next generation of battery‐free wearable biomonitoring patches/e‐textiles and demonstrates materials and methods for fabrication of optimized printed antennas.
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spelling doaj.art-5fa8ad27418e424fa3805388b1ba51c42023-07-21T15:30:39ZengWiley-VCHAdvanced Sensor Research2751-12192023-02-0122n/an/a10.1002/adsr.202200025Digitally Printed Liquid Metal Composite Antenna for Energy Harvesting: Toward Energy‐Autonomous Battery‐Free Wearable BioelectronicsMiguel Maranha0André F. Silva1Pedro Alhais Lopes2Aníbal T. deAlmeida3Mahmoud Tavakoli4Soft and Printed Microelectronics Laboratory Institute of Systems and Robotics Department of Electrical Engineering University of Coimbra Coimbra 3030‐290 PortugalSoft and Printed Microelectronics Laboratory Institute of Systems and Robotics Department of Electrical Engineering University of Coimbra Coimbra 3030‐290 PortugalSoft and Printed Microelectronics Laboratory Institute of Systems and Robotics Department of Electrical Engineering University of Coimbra Coimbra 3030‐290 PortugalSoft and Printed Microelectronics Laboratory Institute of Systems and Robotics Department of Electrical Engineering University of Coimbra Coimbra 3030‐290 PortugalSoft and Printed Microelectronics Laboratory Institute of Systems and Robotics Department of Electrical Engineering University of Coimbra Coimbra 3030‐290 PortugalAbstract Rapid progress on wearable bioelectronics holds the promise for remote patient monitoring. However, there are concerns related with the use of batteries, including the need for frequent charging, user safety, and environmental pollution. The development of rapidly deployable battery‐free patches that harvest their energy from external sources is highly desired. Here, untethered battery‐free patches through far‐field energy harvesting are demonstrated. Taking advantage of a stretchable biphasic liquid metal‐based ink and digital fabrication techniques, that is, direct printing, and laser patterning, tailor‐made customized antennas are fabricated over various substrates, including polydimethylsiloxane, Kapton, and wound‐dressing medical‐grade adhesives. Folded dipole and planar inverted‐F antennas (PIFA) are evaluated and they are optimized for an over‐the‐body scenario. Compared to previous works that only show communication of data at <1 Hz, here, battery‐free acquisition and transmission of electrocardiogram (ECG) data at 100 Hz via Bluetooth is demonstrated. It is shown that using 3 parallel PIFA antennas, it is possible to harvest ≈10 mW at 30 cm from the transmitter, which is ≈7× the required power by the ECG circuit. This study proves the feasibility of next generation of battery‐free wearable biomonitoring patches/e‐textiles and demonstrates materials and methods for fabrication of optimized printed antennas.https://doi.org/10.1002/adsr.202200025biomonitoringfar‐field energy harvestingfolded dipole antennasliquid metal‐silverplanar inverted‐F antennaswearable stretchable bioelectronics
spellingShingle Miguel Maranha
André F. Silva
Pedro Alhais Lopes
Aníbal T. deAlmeida
Mahmoud Tavakoli
Digitally Printed Liquid Metal Composite Antenna for Energy Harvesting: Toward Energy‐Autonomous Battery‐Free Wearable Bioelectronics
Advanced Sensor Research
biomonitoring
far‐field energy harvesting
folded dipole antennas
liquid metal‐silver
planar inverted‐F antennas
wearable stretchable bioelectronics
title Digitally Printed Liquid Metal Composite Antenna for Energy Harvesting: Toward Energy‐Autonomous Battery‐Free Wearable Bioelectronics
title_full Digitally Printed Liquid Metal Composite Antenna for Energy Harvesting: Toward Energy‐Autonomous Battery‐Free Wearable Bioelectronics
title_fullStr Digitally Printed Liquid Metal Composite Antenna for Energy Harvesting: Toward Energy‐Autonomous Battery‐Free Wearable Bioelectronics
title_full_unstemmed Digitally Printed Liquid Metal Composite Antenna for Energy Harvesting: Toward Energy‐Autonomous Battery‐Free Wearable Bioelectronics
title_short Digitally Printed Liquid Metal Composite Antenna for Energy Harvesting: Toward Energy‐Autonomous Battery‐Free Wearable Bioelectronics
title_sort digitally printed liquid metal composite antenna for energy harvesting toward energy autonomous battery free wearable bioelectronics
topic biomonitoring
far‐field energy harvesting
folded dipole antennas
liquid metal‐silver
planar inverted‐F antennas
wearable stretchable bioelectronics
url https://doi.org/10.1002/adsr.202200025
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