Multidirectional strain-insensitive stretchable RF electronics

Stretchable radio-frequency (RF) electronics underpin emerging wearable systems for body-centric communication, continuous health monitoring, and wireless power transfer. However, on-body stretchable antennas undergo multidirectional in-plane strain during natural motion, which detunes resonance and destabilizes wireless links. Existing strain-insensitive designs are typically effective only along prescribed loading directions and often compromise radiation performance. Here, we establish a systematic directional mechano-electromagnetic analysis framework for resonant planar antennas and introduce a dual-port multidirectional strain-insensitive antenna (DP-MSiA), whereby strain-insensitive resonance (shift ≤ 40 MHz at 2.45 GHz) is achieved under up to 45% strain across diverse in-plane directions. Based on the stable resonance and high realized gain of the DP-MSiA, we demonstrate strain-insensitive wireless energy harvesting with rectifiers under in-plane strain of varying direction and magnitude, as well as a strain-robust on-body communication system that sustains stable multimodal health-data transmission during natural motion. Our work opens new opportunities for creating deformation-insensitive electronics and enables integrated functionalities in wearable and embodied systems.

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Publication Details

Journal
Nature Communications
Published
2026-06-27
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-74900-5
Primary Topic
Advanced Sensor and Energy Harvesting Materials
Type
article
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article

Multidirectional strain-insensitive stretchable RF electronics

Yangbo Yuan, Huanyu Cheng, Chaoyun Song, Jia Zhu et al.
Nature Communications
Advanced Sensor and Energy Harvesting Materials
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Multidirectional strain-insensitive stretchable RF electronics

Yangbo Yuan, Huanyu Cheng, Chaoyun Song, Jia Zhu, Jun Zhong, Kai Xu, Jinyao Zhang, J W Li, Junjie Zheng, Yu Hu, Senhao Zhang, Cheng Zhang, Yao Tong, Furong Yang
article en

Abstract

Stretchable radio-frequency (RF) electronics underpin emerging wearable systems for body-centric communication, continuous health monitoring, and wireless power transfer. However, on-body stretchable antennas undergo multidirectional in-plane strain during natural motion, which detunes resonance and destabilizes wireless links. Existing strain-insensitive designs are typically effective only along prescribed loading directions and often compromise radiation performance. Here, we establish a systematic directional mechano-electromagnetic analysis framework for resonant planar antennas and introduce a dual-port multidirectional strain-insensitive antenna (DP-MSiA), whereby strain-insensitive resonance (shift ≤ 40 MHz at 2.45 GHz) is achieved under up to 45% strain across diverse in-plane directions. Based on the stable resonance and high realized gain of the DP-MSiA, we demonstrate strain-insensitive wireless energy harvesting with rectifiers under in-plane strain of varying direction and magnitude, as well as a strain-robust on-body communication system that sustains stable multimodal health-data transmission during natural motion. Our work opens new opportunities for creating deformation-insensitive electronics and enables integrated functionalities in wearable and embodied systems.

Nature Communications
Pennsylvania State University (US), University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (CN), Shenzhen University (CN), King's College London (GB), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN), Suzhou Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Technology (CN), Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics (CN)
Affordable and clean energy
Openalex Percentile: Top 11%
Advanced Sensor and Energy Harvesting Materials
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