Design and characterization of multiwall carbon nanotube/polydimethylsiloxane composite MIMO antenna for wearable and vehicular applications

Abstract A flexible and compact broadband antenna and its multi-input multi-output (MIMO) configuration is reported in this article targeting wearable and vehicular applications. The proposed antenna is made up of multiwall carbon nanotube (MWCNT) working as radiative structure and ground plane whil...

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Main Authors: Musa Hussain, Wahaj Abbas Awan, Hijab Zahra, Syed Muzahir Abbas, Samir Salem Al-Bawri, Yong Zhu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2025-07-01
Series:Scientific Reports
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-13112-1
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author Musa Hussain
Wahaj Abbas Awan
Hijab Zahra
Syed Muzahir Abbas
Samir Salem Al-Bawri
Yong Zhu
author_facet Musa Hussain
Wahaj Abbas Awan
Hijab Zahra
Syed Muzahir Abbas
Samir Salem Al-Bawri
Yong Zhu
author_sort Musa Hussain
collection DOAJ
description Abstract A flexible and compact broadband antenna and its multi-input multi-output (MIMO) configuration is reported in this article targeting wearable and vehicular applications. The proposed antenna is made up of multiwall carbon nanotube (MWCNT) working as radiative structure and ground plane while Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is utilized as the substrate. The unit element is initially designed and optimized for the potential application, thereafter, the MIMO configuration is proposed to enhance the diversity and channel capacity of the system. The results are verified using hardware prototypes fabricated by mold casting technique. The measured results offer a strong agreement with simulated results that consequently verify the proposed design. Since the antenna is targeted for wearable as well as vehicular applications, it is also simulated along with human phantom model and car model where the performance parameters are studied. The antenna offers low SAR value of around 0.04 W/Kg and 0.05 W/Kg on the human phantom chest and back, respectively. For vehicular system application, the antenna also offers high gain (7.61 dBi) with stable radiation patterns. The whole study is carried out using the EM software tool of CST for antenna design and SIM4Life for human body and vehicular analysis, while the equivalent circuit model (ECM) is designed using ADS. Furthermore, a detailed comparison is also made with state-of-the-art designs from existing literature which validates the potential of the proposed work for vehicular and wearable applications as it overperforms the related studies by offering overall strong performance.
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spelling doaj-art-3dc7ff4482e04d37b242da1c795db5fa2025-08-20T04:02:45ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222025-07-0115111610.1038/s41598-025-13112-1Design and characterization of multiwall carbon nanotube/polydimethylsiloxane composite MIMO antenna for wearable and vehicular applicationsMusa Hussain0Wahaj Abbas Awan1Hijab Zahra2Syed Muzahir Abbas3Samir Salem Al-Bawri4Yong Zhu5School of Engineering and Bulit Environment, Griffith UniversityDepartment of Information and Communication Engineering, Chungbuk National UniversitySchool of Engineering, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Macquarie UniversitySchool of Engineering, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Macquarie UniversitySpace Science Centre, Climate Change Institute, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM)School of Engineering and Bulit Environment, Griffith UniversityAbstract A flexible and compact broadband antenna and its multi-input multi-output (MIMO) configuration is reported in this article targeting wearable and vehicular applications. The proposed antenna is made up of multiwall carbon nanotube (MWCNT) working as radiative structure and ground plane while Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is utilized as the substrate. The unit element is initially designed and optimized for the potential application, thereafter, the MIMO configuration is proposed to enhance the diversity and channel capacity of the system. The results are verified using hardware prototypes fabricated by mold casting technique. The measured results offer a strong agreement with simulated results that consequently verify the proposed design. Since the antenna is targeted for wearable as well as vehicular applications, it is also simulated along with human phantom model and car model where the performance parameters are studied. The antenna offers low SAR value of around 0.04 W/Kg and 0.05 W/Kg on the human phantom chest and back, respectively. For vehicular system application, the antenna also offers high gain (7.61 dBi) with stable radiation patterns. The whole study is carried out using the EM software tool of CST for antenna design and SIM4Life for human body and vehicular analysis, while the equivalent circuit model (ECM) is designed using ADS. Furthermore, a detailed comparison is also made with state-of-the-art designs from existing literature which validates the potential of the proposed work for vehicular and wearable applications as it overperforms the related studies by offering overall strong performance.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-13112-1MWCNTMIMOPDMSV2XWearable antenna
spellingShingle Musa Hussain
Wahaj Abbas Awan
Hijab Zahra
Syed Muzahir Abbas
Samir Salem Al-Bawri
Yong Zhu
Design and characterization of multiwall carbon nanotube/polydimethylsiloxane composite MIMO antenna for wearable and vehicular applications
Scientific Reports
MWCNT
MIMO
PDMS
V2X
Wearable antenna
title Design and characterization of multiwall carbon nanotube/polydimethylsiloxane composite MIMO antenna for wearable and vehicular applications
title_full Design and characterization of multiwall carbon nanotube/polydimethylsiloxane composite MIMO antenna for wearable and vehicular applications
title_fullStr Design and characterization of multiwall carbon nanotube/polydimethylsiloxane composite MIMO antenna for wearable and vehicular applications
title_full_unstemmed Design and characterization of multiwall carbon nanotube/polydimethylsiloxane composite MIMO antenna for wearable and vehicular applications
title_short Design and characterization of multiwall carbon nanotube/polydimethylsiloxane composite MIMO antenna for wearable and vehicular applications
title_sort design and characterization of multiwall carbon nanotube polydimethylsiloxane composite mimo antenna for wearable and vehicular applications
topic MWCNT
MIMO
PDMS
V2X
Wearable antenna
url https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-13112-1
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