Graphene Enabling Next-Generation Communications Technology: From 5G EMI Shielding to 6G Smart Antennas
Graphene and other 2D materials, with their excellent conductivity, flexibility and printability, are emerging as key candidates for electromagnetic shielding and smart antenna materials in next-generation communication systems. This talk reviews the speaker's work at the Cambridge Graphene Centre and within the EU Horizon Graphene Flagship programme on EMI shielding mechanisms, large-area device fabrication, and RFID/antenna integration: a layer-by-layer self-assembled graphene coating achieving shielding effectiveness ≥ 4,830 dB/mm, with spray-coating and screen-printing enabling square-metre-scale, low-cost production; and a frequency-selective-surface graphene coating integrated into MIMO antenna arrays, improving element spacing and isolation beyond conventional metal designs, with prototypes already validated with Huawei and Nokia Bell Labs. Building on this, this talk looks ahead to how graphene-based tunable smart metasurface antennas could enable programmable amplitude, phase and polarization control in the 6G sub-THz band, and discusses next steps for industrialization.
