Digitally Coded, Screen-Printed Flexible Metasurfaces for Tunable Electromagnetic Responses
laser cutter and adhesive photo paper to create custom stencil masks that define binary "0" and "1" patterns for metal ink deposition. We demonstrate multiple prototypes with distinct electromagnetic functionalities, including polarization-sensitive and frequency-selective transmission. Both experimental and numerical characterizations under transverse electric and transverse magnetic (TM) polarizations reveal very good agreement. To confirm the feasibility of our approach for wireless communication systems, we employed 64-QAM digitally modulated signals and analyzed the resulting constellation diagrams. Polarization selectivity was clearly evidenced: at 8.5 GHz, the TE-polarized transmission yielded an error vector magnitude (EVM) of 3.21 (transmission of -8.30 dB), while TM polarization resulted in severe signal degradation, with an EVM of 28.83 (transmission level of -37.86 dB). Furthermore, we assessed the metasurface performance under mechanical deformation using a semicircular curvature. The results confirm the robustness of the electromagnetic response under bending, highlighting the suitability for nonplanar surfaces. Overall, the low-cost, scalable methodology introduced here allows for producing digitally programmable metasurfaces using accessible tools and materials, offering a platform for real-world electromagnetic wave manipulation and wireless communication applications.
Authors
- Luiz Augusto Melo Pereira (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5731-5351)
- Osvaldo N. Oliveira (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5399-5860)
- Faustino Reyes Gómez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5758-0489)
- Luciano Leonel Mendes (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1996-7292)
- Emanuel Carrilho (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7351-8220)
- Arismar Cerqueira Sodré
- José Reis Pinto Moreira
- Elsa M. Materón (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3382-1193)
- Wanderson E. Saldanha
- Miguel J. A. Ribeiro
- Jorge Ricardo Mejía-Salazar (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1742-9957)
Institutions
- Rohde & Schwarz (Germany) (DE)
- Institute of Physics (PL)
- National Institute of Telecommunications (BR)
Publication Details
- Journal
- ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
- Published
- 2026-05-12
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.6c03864
- Primary Topic
- Advanced Antenna and Metasurface Technologies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Rede Nacional de Ensino e Pesquisa
- Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo
- Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação
- Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico
- Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos
- Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais
- Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa e Inovação Industrial