Compact and conformal multilayer antenna based on polymer nanocomposite substrate

This paper presents a compact and conformal multilayer single patch microstrip antenna based on a new class of polymer magneto-dielectric (PDMS-Fe₃O₄) nanocomposite substrate. A 30% of nanoparticles (10 nm) of magnetite (Fe₃O₄) iron oxide have been composited with 70% of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) to form PDMS-Fe₃O₄ layer. It has favorable electrical and mechanical properties such as low loss, flexible, light-weight, water resistant and transparency. The proposed antenna consists of a rectangular patch fed using 50 Ω microstrip line and its ground plane throughout the substrate. The proposed antenna have been simulated under four different conditions (free space, in water, bending condition, and on human body phantom) to evaluate such materials in different environments. The simulated and measured results of the proposed antenna show a reflection coefficient (S11) less than -20 dB at 5.8 GHz and has an excellent enhancement in its bandwidth (up to 983 MHz), Furthermore, it has radiation efficiency more 71% and gain of 6.35 dB.