Flexible Inkjet-Printed Antennas : Design, Fabrication, and Applications

Flexible inkjet-printed antennas are lightweight, low-cost radio-frequency components fabricated by depositing conductive inks onto flexible substrates such as polyimide, polyethylene terephthalate, paper, or textiles. This additive manufacturing method enables rapid prototyping without masks or etching, significantly reducing material waste and production time. Conductive inks—often based on silver nanoparticles, copper, or conductive polymers—are patterned with high precision to form antenna geometries for applications across Wi-Fi, RFID, NFC, Bluetooth, and emerging IoT systems for wearable electronics, smart packaging, biomedical devices, and soft robotics. This textbook presents the basic knowledge of printed inkjet antenna on flexible substrates, including fabrication techniques, substrates used, most important characterizations, and different applications such as wireless sensor networks, wearable electronics, and smart textiles. It provides professionals and graduate students an optimum literature survey of the basic knowledge beyond the flexible printed antennas and circuits in general.