Conductive polymer based antenna for wireless green sensors applications

Despite the ubiquity of poly (3, 4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) as a high optical transparent conducting electrode in electronic devices, its potential as a low-cost fabrication conducting polymer film has not been fully explored. The motivation of this research is the development of a compact broadband antenna operating in the Radio-Frequency IDentification at Ultra High Frequency band (RFID UHF: 860–960 MHz) for “Green” electronics and biosensor applications. In this paper, we apply a transparent conductive film on a recyclable and transparent glass substrate to achieve an original and aesthetic antenna for applications such as optical displays and window glass or sensors. We present and compare two designs made using the relatively low conductivity conducting polymer (CPs) PEDOT:PSS (1.5⋅ 10⁴ S/m) and a similar copper antenna (5.8 ⋅ 10⁷ S/m). The PEDOT:PSS antenna achieved a maximum gain of −8.6 dB, while the Cu antenna reached a gain of 2 dB. These results indicate that it is possible to obtain reasonable performance fully compliant with short range contactless technology and demonstrate the potential of conductive polymer materials for contactless technology devices, in particular for applications with recyclable sensors.