New Sprayable Antennas Could Mean Thinner, Lighter Mobile Devices

Each electronic device that communicates with other devices has an antenna, and the reality of its performance often has an impact on the design of the equipment. For example, many current phones have glass panels because the glass is better for the performance of the antenna. And if the antennas could go anywhere and have any shape? This could be possible with new spray antennas developed at the College of Engineering at Drexel University.

The new spray aerials are based on a material also developed at Drexel University in 2011 and called MXenes. It's a class of two-dimensional inorganic compounds – it's kind of the metallic equivalent of graphene. A single sheet of MXenes has a thickness of about 1 nanometer, or 100,000 times thinner than a sheet of paper. It's actually 2D.

In this case, the team used a form of MXenes based on titanium carbide that is metal conductive and maintains conductivity even when multiple sheets are stacked on top of each other in the manufacturing process. MXenes starts as a powder, but is soluble in water. After hanging in a solution, you can spray the MXenes on your target to create an instant antenna. This can be in any shape, even a dragon, as shown in the video. Although this is probably not the most effective antenna.

With this process, you can create antennas in any form, but they have several important functional advantages over traditional antennas. On the one hand, they take a lot less space. This can free up space in a device for other components or facilitate the installation of antennas in spaces opening up new approaches to hardware design. The manufacture of these antennas is also fast and easy. You just spray the material on an object, and you're done: no surfaces or binders are specially treated. Antennas can also be completely transparent for use in portable devices and other devices where internal space is limited.

The MXenes aerosol technology is still in its infancy, but Babak Anasori of Drexel says it will only get better over time. The already ultra-thin antennas could become even thinner and more flexible while achieving better transmission characteristics. The team plans to study the fundamental nature of extremely thin antennas to make these designs viable in consumer devices. Anasori says that Drexel has a patent on the technology and that it could possibly come on the market with real products.

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