All-polymer broadband metamaterial absorber fabricated by screen-printing of PEDOT/PSS ink

Abstract We present all-polymer broadband metamaterial absorber (BMMA) in the microwave frequency range. We employed inks made from π-conjugated polymer, poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)/poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT/PSS) and screen-printing technique to fabricate high impedance surfaces (HIS) of the patterned layer and the ground plane on each side of polymer spacer. The surface resistivity and film thickness of the PEDOT/PSS layer was appropriately adjusted by the number of printings for both layers. In the 3D electromagnetic field simulation, broadband microwave absorbing characteristics covering absorption of 90 % or higher was achieved over the frequency range of 1.94–6.58 GHz corresponding fractional bandwidth of 109%, which is comparable with other BMMAs reported so far. We have fabricated a sample by screen-printing PEDOT/PSS inks and confirmed in the microwave experiment that the broadband microwave absorbing characteristics were attained. Our results may open the way for the development of light weight, flexible, all-polymer BMMAs.