Fabrication of Metasurfaces on Building Construction Materials for Potential Electromagnetic Applications in the Microwave Band

TL;DR

This paper presents a simple spray printing method to embed metasurfaces into building materials like plasterboard and wood, enabling potential electromagnetic energy harvesting and sensing for power management in buildings.

Contribution

It introduces a novel spray printing technique for fabricating metasurfaces directly on construction materials, facilitating large-area electromagnetic applications in buildings.

Findings

Metasurfaces exhibit efficient electromagnetic response in 4-7 GHz range.

Spray printed metasurfaces can be integrated into interior building materials.

Potential for energy harvesting and power management in buildings.

Abstract

Energy self sufficiency, as well as optimal management of power in buildings is gaining importance, while obtaining power from traditional fossil energy sources is becoming more and more expensive. In this context, millimeter scale metasurfaces can be employed to harvest energy from microwave sources. They can also be used as sensors in the microwave regime for efficient power management solutions. In the current study, a simple spray printing method is proposed to develop metasurfaces in construction materials, i.e., plasterboard and wood. Such materials are used in the interior design of buildings; therefore, the implementation of metasurfaces in large areas, such as walls, doors and floors, is realized. The fabricated metasurfaces were characterized regarding their electromagnetic performance. It is hereby shown that the investigated metasurfaces exhibit an efficient electromagnetic response in the frequency range 4 to 7 GHz, depending on the MS. Thus, spray printed metasurfaces integrated on construction materials can potentially be used for electromagnetic applications, for buildings power self efficiency and management.