Installing antennas could soon be as easy as “applying some bug spray” if US engineers are on the money.
In research published in the journal Science Advances, a team from Drexel University College of Engineering in Philadelphia, US, reports on a method for spraying invisibly thin antennas made from a two-dimensional metallic material called MXene, which, the researchers say, perform as well as those currently used in mobile devices, wireless routers and portable transducers.
If they really do, that would mean antennas could be embedded easily in a variety of objects and surfaces without adding weight or circuitry, or requiring a certain level of rigidity. And that would open up a range of exciting possibilities for functional fabrics, the Internet of Things – and more.
