Flexible Gas-Permeable and Resilient Bowtie Antenna for Tensile Strain and Temperature Sensing

As a wireless basic unit, flexible antennas hold a wide range of applications in wearable electronics, soft robotics, and Internet of Things (IoT). However, most of the current flexible antennas are encapsulated by silicone elastomers with poor gas permeability, which severely hinders the evaporation of skin moisture and sweat. In addition, conventional rigid metals as high-frequency conductors are limited by poor elasticity and susceptibility to oxidation for on-skin application. Here, we developed a highly permeable and stretch-resistant flexible bowtie antenna that can capture changes in tensile strain and temperature. A low-impedance flexible carbon nanotube-silver (CNT-Ag) substrate was fabricated as the conductor of the antenna. By optimizing the multibeam bowed geometry and wrapping it in porous thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) fibers, the final five-beam antenna was obtained and was able to withstand a relatively large tensile stress of 25.2 MPa, yet achieve a high vapor transmission rate of 48.2 mg cm−2 h−1. The antenna obtained an ideal impedance match at 2.28 GHz with doughnut-like radiation and a high radiation efficiency of over 85%. Furthermore, the antenna was successfully used to capture the strain in the wrist epidermis during bending and to detect thermal changes in the beaker of hot water, respectively. Finally, demonstrations of the antenna, such as permeability, radiation to the human body, and integrality in connection with flexible circuits, were carefully developed to reveal its feasibility in the real world. We expect this work to pave the way for the future establishment of epidermally flexible antennas for soft electronics.