Two-dimensional MoS2-enabled flexible rectenna for Wi-Fi-band wireless energy harvesting Articles uri icon

authors

  • ZHANG, XU
  • Grajal, Jesús
  • VAZQUEZ ROY, JOSE LUIS
  • JI, XIANG
  • LING, XI
  • ZUBAIR, AHMAD
  • ZHANG, YUHAO
  • WANG, HAN
  • DUBEY, MADAN
  • KONG, JING
  • DRESSELHAUS, MILDRED
  • PALACIOS, TOMAS
  • RADHAKRISHNA, UJWAL
  • WANG, XIAOXUE
  • CHERN, WINSTON
  • ZHOU, LIN
  • LIN, YUXUAN
  • SHEN, PIN CHUN

published in

publication date

  • February 2019

start page

  • 368

end page

  • 372

issue

  • 7744

volume

  • 556

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 0028-0836

Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)

  • 1476-4687

abstract

  • The mechanical and electronic properties of two-dimensional materials make them promising for use in flexible electronics(1-3). Their atomic thickness and large-scale synthesis capability could enable the development of 'smart skin'(1,3-5), which could transform ordinary objects into an intelligent distributed sensor network(6). However, although many important components of such a distributed electronic system have already been demonstrated (for example, transistors, sensors and memory devices based on two-dimensional materials(1,2,4,7)), an efficient, flexible and always-on energy-harvesting solution, which is indispensable for self-powered systems, is still missing. Electromagnetic radiation from Wi-Fi systems operating at 2.4 and 5.9 gigahertz(8) is becoming increasingly ubiquitous and would be ideal to harvest for powering future distributed electronics. However, the high frequencies used for Wi-Fi communications have remained elusive to radiofrequency harvesters (that is, rectennas) made of flexible semiconductors owing to their limited transport properties(9-12). Here we demonstrate an atomically thin and flexible rectenna based on a MoS2 semiconducting-metallic-phase heterojunction with a cutoff frequency of 10 gigahertz, which represents an improvement in speed of roughly one order of magnitude compared with current state-of-the-art flexible rectifiers(9-12). This flexible MoS2-based rectifier operates up to the X-band(8) (8 to 12 gigahertz) and covers most of the unlicensed industrial, scientific and medical radio band, including the Wi-Fi channels. By integrating the ultrafast MoS2 rectifier with a flexible Wi-Fi-band antenna, we fabricate a fully flexible and integrated rectenna that achieves wireless energy harvesting of electromagnetic radiation in the Wi-Fi band with zero external bias (battery-free). Moreover, our MoS2 rectifier acts as a flexible mixer, realizing frequency conversion beyond 10 gigahertz. This work provides a universal energy-harvest

keywords

  • schottky diode; nanomembrane diodes; frequency; electronics; contacts; optoelectronics; transparent; silicon; design