Liquid metal stretchable unbalanced loop antenna

Abstract

We present a 2.4 GHz unbalanced loop antenna that can be stretched along multiple dimensions simultaneously. It was realized by incorporating room temperature liquid metal alloy into microstructured channels in an elastic material. The demonstrated prototype exhibits a stretchability of up to 40% along two orthogonal orientations as well as foldability and twistability. Port impedance and radiation characteristics of the nonstretched and stretched antenna were studied numerically and experimentally. Measured results indicate a radiation efficiency of more than 80%.