Japanese art kirigami-based antenna promises faster, versatile wireless tech

Wireless technology is the need of the modern world. But as our demand for faster, more reliable connections grows, so does the need for innovative antenna designs.

Researchers at Drexel University and the University of British Columbia have discovered a new approach to creating versatile and adaptable antennas .

Inspired by the ancient Japanese art of kirigami, the team has developed a method to transform a simple sheet of material into a complex 3D antenna.

This technique is said to be a quick and cost-effective way to manufacture tunable radio antennas.

“For wireless technology to support advancements in fields like soft robotics and aerospace, antennas need to be designed for tunable performance and with ease of fabrication,” said Yury Gogotsi, Bach Professor in Drexel’s College of Engineering, and a co-author of the research.

“Kirigami is a natural model for a manufacturing process, due to the simplicity with which complex 3D forms can be created from a single 2D piece of material,” Gogotsi added.

Flexible 3D antenna

Kirigami, a Japanese art form dating back to the 4th and 5th centuries AD, involves cutting and folding paper to create complex 3D structures.

To create the antenna, they started by applying a conductive ink made of titanium carbide MXene onto a single sheet of acetate.

MXenes are a type of two-dimensional nanomaterials. MXene ink’s strong adhesion and adjustable transmission properties make it well-suited for this antenna application.

The researchers used kirigami techniques to create parallel cuts in the MXene-coated surface.

“Pulling at the edges of the sheet triggered an array of square-shaped resonator antennas to spring from its two-dimensional surface. Varying the tension caused the angle of the array to shift — a capability that could be deployed to quickly adjust the communications configuration of the antennas,” the press release explained.

The sheet was fabricated into a flexible 3D microwave antenna that could be tuned by physically altering its shape.

Transmit signals in testing

Interestingly, the prototype antennas successfully transmitted signals in three common microwave frequency bands: 2-4 GHz, 4-8 GHz, and 8-12 GHz.

Moreover, the team observed that modifying the shape and orientation of the substrate could alter the direction of the waves emitted by each resonator.

This means that the antennas could be adjusted to transmit signals in different directions, which could be useful for various applications, such as wireless communication and remote sensing.

These results lay the groundwork for incorporating these components into wireless devices.

The research team plans to enhance the performance of these newly developed antennas by exploring different shapes, materials, and movements.

“Our goal here was to simultaneously improve the adjustability of antenna performance as well as create a simple manufacturing process for new microwave components by incorporating a versatile MXene nanomaterial with kirigami-inspired designs,” said Omid Niksan from the University of British Columbia.

“The next phase of this research will explore new materials and geometries for the antennas,” Niksan added in the press release.

These flexible, lightweight, and durable antennas could find applications in fields, such as robotics or aerospace.

The findings were published in the journal Nature Communications .