A properties comparison between copper and graphene-based UWB MIMO planar antennas

This paper presents the comparison of two Ultrawideband (UWB) Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output (MIMO) antennas with different conductors. In the simulation two UWB-MIMO antennas with copper conductors and graphene-based conductors (GBC) are designed separately. The ground planes of both radiators are made of copper, only the top side is made with different conductors. A T-shaped decoupling structure is placed on the ground plane to reduce the coupling between the radiating patches. These two prototypes, one with copper conductors and the other one with GBCs are fabricated. A good agreement between the S-parameters of both prototypes is found. The measured radiation patterns of both prototypes also exhibit similar properties. Whereas, the GBC antenna showed a lower gain as compared to the copper antenna, as depicted in radiation patterns. However, impedance matching and the radiation characteristics of the GBC antenna also showed that graphene can be a good alternative to copper in UWB-MIMO conformal antennas.