A bendable EBG based a vivaldi fractal antenna for RF-energy harvesting applications for 5G networks

Radio frequency (RF) based energy harvesting technologies have attracted different efforts from researchers to employ low energy in powering portable electronic devices. In this article, an Ultra-Wide Band (UWB) antenna based a Vivaldi fractal antenna backed with an Electromagnetic Bandgap (EBG) is exemplified for RF-energy harvesting in the modern 5G networks. The antenna is connected to full wave rectifier circuit to obtain a rectified DC current. The antenna is printed on a flexible Kodak photo work of 0.5mm thickness with εr=2 and loss tangent of 0.0015. The numerical simulations are conducted using CST MWS and HFSS software packages. The proposed antenna structure is fabricated using an ink jet printing technology based on conductive silver nanoparticle ink.