Document Type

Article

Rights

This item is available under a Creative Commons License for non-commercial use only

Publication Details

Electronics Letters 2011 Available from the publisher here http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=5699986

Abstract

An optically transparent microstrip patch mounted on the surface of a commercially available solar module is proposed. The patch comprises a thin sheet of clear polyester with a conductive coating. The amorphous silicon solar cells in the module are used as both photovoltaic generator and antenna ground plane. The proposed structure provides a peak gain of 3.96 dBi in the 3.4-3.8 GHz range without significantly compromising the light transmission in the module. A comparison between copper and transparent conductors is made in terms of antenna and solar performance. The proposed technique is considerably simpler that previous integration approaches.