Carbon nonwoven RFID antennas for smart wearable applications

In this research, conductive carbon fiber cloth (CFC) is investigated as the conductive material for passive ultra-high frequency (UHF) radio frequency identification (RFID) tags. Laminated between compliant thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) films, features, such as easy integration on textiles, flexibility, and watertightness can be promoted. Based on four different sample types, the optimum antenna structure with the highest read range is studied. The results show the conductive CFC can be laminated with TPU without damaging the microcircuit and read range of > 100 cm is achieved. The structure of material layering impacts the read ranges: adding additional TPU film inside the antenna can decrease read range loss. To demonstrate a possible application of the prepared RFID tag on clothing, the tag is laminated on a textile and covered with a decorative patch. The results and experiments show possibilities and development paths for cost-effective and washable RFID tags for smart textiles.