A fractal-based single band DR-rectenna for RF energy harvesting

With the advancement of wireless communication, Radio Frequency (RF) energy harvesting has gained significant attention over the past decade. RF energy harvesting is emerging as a sustainable alternative to conventional batteries, enabling self-powered operation in wireless sensor networks and Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices. This work presents a single-band cylindrical dielectric resonator antenna (DRA) operating at the 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi band for efficient RF energy harvesting. The proposed antenna (120 × 120 × 1.6 mm³) achieves a gain of 6.5 dBi at 2.4 GHz. A single-diode shunt rectifier converts RF signals into usable DC power. Simulation and experimental results exhibit strong agreement. At 5 dBm input power, the rectifier achieves a peak power conversion efficiency of 66%, while the overall rectenna reaches 64.4% efficiency with a maximum output voltage of 1.34 V. The proposed rectenna is suitable for low-power applications such as sensors, smartwatches, and energy storage devices like batteries and supercapacitors.