Flexible Graphene Textile RFID Tags Based on Spray, Dispense and Contact Printing

Abstract

Radio frequency identification (RFID) is a well-established technology, which finds use in applications including inventory management, security, logistics, product marketing, as well as next generation flexible sensor platforms. Meanwhile, there is growing interest to use 2D materials like graphene in sensing due to its high surface to volume ratio, excellent electrical, mechanical and thermal properties. This paper capitalizes on the unique properties of graphene and ordinary fabrics and reports on the development of graphene textile-based RFID tags operating at 13.56 MHz for potential application in wearable and flexible electronics. Patterning of graphene on textile surfaces was achieved by low-cost technologies including spray, dispense and contact printing to yield circular and rectangular RFID tags with a maximum range of 3 cm and induced voltage of up to 78 mV peak-to-peak at an area of 18 cm2. Operation of the graphene textile RFID tags under different bending scenarios was tested to demonstrate the proof-of-concept in flexible and wearable sensing applications. © 2020 IEEE.