A flexible hybrid printed RF energy harvester utilizing catalyst-based copper printing technologies for far-field RF energy harvesting applications

In this paper, the design of a novel flexible RF energy harvester utilizing hybrid printed electronics technology is presented for the first time. The proposed RF energy harvester operates at UHF RFID band (868 MHz ~ 915 MHz) for far-field RF energy harvesting applications. A concept of hybrid printed electronics which takes advantage of both flexibility of low-cost printed electronics and high performances of ICs is introduced. The passive components of the RF energy harvester, such as the circuit layout and the antenna, are printed on a flexible low-cost polymer substrate utilizing a catalyst-based inkjet printing process for the fabrication of copper metallization layers. The surface-mount devices (SMDs) are soldered on the printed circuit board. The proposed approach demonstrates the feasibility of implementing low-cost flexible printed electronics for the Internet of Things (IoT) and stand-alone (“zero-power”) wireless sensor platforms.