Aerosol Jet-Printed Transparent Wideband Antenna for Solar-Powered IoT Applications

The design, fabrication, and characterization of a highly transparent and flexible monopole antenna optimized for the 3–6 GHz frequency band are presented in this study. In traditional Transparent Conductive Oxide (TCO) designs, there is always a trade-off between RF efficiency and optical transparency. Therefore, an Aerosol Jet® 5X system was used to directly print a silver nanoparticle mesh onto a 50 μm colorless polyimide (PI) substrate. Using this fabrication method, a durable structure was obtained that exhibits reliable electrical and mechanical performance, achieving 85% optical transmittance in the visible spectrum and a gain of −2.5 dBi. To evaluate the flexibility and compatibility of the antenna, it was bent over a cylindrical surface and integrated with a commercial solar panel in both simulation and experimental environments. The results demonstrate that the impedance matching and radiation characteristics remain stable under bending conditions, with no critical decrease observed in solar energy harvesting. Consequently, this design has strong potential as a solution for energy-autonomous Internet of Things systems, smart windows, and CubeSat applications.