Science Daily June 10, 2019
Early work on carbon nanotube (CNT) antennas indicated that their performance could not match that of metals such as copper. However, recent improvements in fluid phase CNT processing have yielded macroscopic CNT materials with better alignment and conductivity. A team of researchers in the US (Rice University, NIST) conducted radiation efficiency measurements of microstrip patch antennas made of shear-aligned CNT films measuring radiation efficiency of 94% at 10 GHz and 14 GHz, matching equivalent copper antennas. The minimum CNT film thickness required to match the performance of copper drops with increasing frequency due to reduced losses from the skin effect. The new antennas could be suitable for 5G networks, aircraft, especially unmanned aerial vehicles, and for future IoT applications…read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLEÂ