Foldable nanopaper antennas for origami electronics

Abstract

Foldable antennas are required for small-sized electronic devices with high portability. Antennas on plastic substrates provide high flexibility and high sensitivity but are not foldable. Antennas on paper substrates are foldable, but their sensitivity is poor because of their coarse surfaces. In this paper, nanopapers with smooth surfaces and high foldability are fabricated from 30 nm wide cellulose nanofibers for use as foldable antenna substrates. Silver nanowires are then printed on the nanopapers to act as antenna lines. These nanopaper antennas with silver nanowires exhibit high sensitivity because of their smooth surfaces and high foldability because of their network structures. Also, their high foldability allows the mechanical tuning of their resonance points over a wide frequency range without using additional components such as condensers and coils. Nanopaper antennas with silver nanowires are therefore suitable for the realization of future foldable electronics.