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.
Authors
- Yangbo Yuan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5505-7002)
- Huanyu Cheng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6075-4208)
- Chaoyun Song (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8735-3156)
- Jia Zhu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1553-9821)
- Jun Zhong
- Kai Xu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3837-7922)
- Jinyao Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9135-555X)
- J W Li
- Junjie Zheng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6086-3076)
- Yu Hu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1964-0043)
- Senhao Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6324-1686)
- Cheng Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8948-4093)
- Yao Tong
- Furong Yang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-9214-0175)
Institutions
- 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)
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
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00