A Novel Approach to Design an Integrated Antenna-Battery System

In this study, an integrated antenna-battery was explored. Studying the systems separately allowed information to be obtained relating to the materials' performance and feasibility of an integrated system.

Conducting polymers are promising in modern day lithium ion batteries. With high electrical conductivity as well as good ionic conductivity, they are now becoming more widely used. Here, we present a study of a co-block polymer (PEDOT-PEG) in which a polymer with high electrical conductivity is linked to a polymer with lithium ion conductivity, using a combination of atomistic simulations and experiments.

Simulations showed that the diffusion and ionic conductivity for PEDOT-PEG agreed well with experiments. A trend was identified as a function of lithium salt concentration, in which the ionic conductivity decreased with increasing concentration. This was identified to be down to the significant ion pairing occurring in the system between lithium and the counterion.

Requirements for the antenna were the ability to be mounted easily onto a battery substrate without a significant loss in efficiency and bandwidth. Studies were undertaken in which a slot dipole antenna was modified so as to incorporate properties more closely associated with battery materials i.e. permittivity and dielectric loss. An ultra-thin Mylar prototype was also synthesised and mounted onto a variety of surfaces, to assess how the antenna performed in different environments.

Results for the antenna showed usable bandwidths and efficiencies when the antenna structure was modified to closely resemble a solid state battery. Despite a reduction seen in certain cases, these losses were not significant, and showed promise with regards to designing an integrated system. The Mylar prototype showed a good match between simulation and experiment in free space and when mounted on surfaces such as polymers, indicating that an ultra-thin antenna-battery is feasible.