Flexible Anti-Metal RFID Tag Antenna Based on High-Conductivity Graphene Assembly Film

Abstract

We propose a flexible anti-metal radio frequency identification (RFID) tag antenna based on a high-conductivity graphene assembly film (HCGAF). The HCGAF has a conductivity of 1.82 × 106 S m−1, a sheet resistance of 25 mΩ and a thickness of 22 μm. The HCGAF is endowed with high conductivity comparable to metal materials and superb flexibility, which is suitable for making antennas for microwave frequencies. Through proper structural design, parameter optimization, semiautomatic manufacturing and experimental measurements, an HCGAF antenna could realize a realized gain of –7.3 dBi and a radiation efficiency of 80%, and the tag could achieve a 6.4 m read range at 915 MHz on a 20 × 20 cm2 flat copper plate. In the meantime, by utilizing flexible polyethylene (PE) foam, good conformality was obtained. The read ranges of the tags attached to curved copper plates with different bending radii were measured, as well as those of those attached to several daily objects. All the results demonstrate the excellent performance of the design, which is highly favorable for practical RFID anti-metal applications.