TY - JOUR
T1 - An ultra-light, low-cost reflecting/absorbing dual-mode metasurface
AU - Zhai, Menglin
AU - Zhang, Tian
AU - Pei, Rui
AU - He, Huiwu
AU - Zhang, Lei
AU - Leach, Mark
AU - Lim, Eng Gee
AU - Wang, Zhao
AU - Wang, Jingchen
AU - Hua, Qiang
AU - Akinsolu, Mobayode
AU - Liu, Bo
AU - Yin, Wen-Yan
AU - Huang, Yi
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Intelligent Electromagnetic Control and Advanced Electronic Integration , the Natural Science Foundation of Shanghai under Grant 24ZR1403100 , Shanghai Sailing Program under Grant 22YF1401000 , and the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant 62371118 .
Funding Information:
This work was supported by Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Intelligent Electromagnetic Control and Advanced Electronic Integration, the Natural Science Foundation of Shanghai under Grant 24ZR1403100, Shanghai Sailing Program under Grant 22YF1401000, and the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant 62371118.The authors would like to express their sincere gratitude to CST AG for providing access to the CST Studio Suite Electromagnetic Simulation Software through the China Key University Promotion Program. Appreciation is also extended to the Suzhou Municipal Key Laboratory for Wireless Broadband Access Technologies, Department of Electrical Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU), Suzhou, China, for offering essential research infrastructure. Support from the XJTLU Artificial Intelligence University Research Centre, the Jiangsu Province Engineering Research Centre of Data Science and Cognitive Computation at XJTLU, and the SIP AI Innovation Platform (YZCXPT2022103) is gratefully acknowledged. The authors also thank Nake New Materials for generously providing the carbon-coated resistive network materials used in this work.
Funding Information:
The authors would like to express their sincere gratitude to CST AG for providing access to the CST Studio Suite Electromagnetic Simulation Software through the China Key University Promotion Program. Appreciation is also extended to the Suzhou Municipal Key Laboratory for Wireless Broadband Access Technologies, Department of Electrical Engineering , Xi\u2019an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU), Suzhou, China, for offering essential research infrastructure. Support from the XJTLU Artificial Intelligence University Research Centre, the Jiangsu Province Engineering Research Centre of Data Science and Cognitive Computation at XJTLU , and the SIP AI Innovation Platform ( YZCXPT2022103 ) is gratefully acknowledged. The authors also thank Nake New Materials for generously providing the carbon-coated resistive network materials used in this work.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 The Authors
PY - 2025/9/1
Y1 - 2025/9/1
N2 - This paper presents an ultra-light, low-cost reconfigurable metasurface functioning as both reflector and absorber, with mode switching via a lossy electromagnetic bandgap (EBG) layer. In reflection mode, the reflecting EBG (REBG) structure exhibits in-phase reflection characteristics at 2.48 and 5.84 GHz, with its dual-band operation achieved through a square patch configuration. In absorption mode, the integration of a lossy EBG layer atop the REBG enables relatively wideband absorption, while preserving insensitivity to polarization and exhibiting stability against varying incident angles. The absorption band fully encompasses the reflection band by employing an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven antenna optimization technique, specifically, the self-adaptive Bayesian neural network surrogate model-assisted differential evolution for antenna optimization (SB-SADEA) method. With a peak absorption rate reaching 99 %, the developed prototype sustains over 90 % absorption efficiency throughout the 2.2–7.28 GHz band. Additionally, this structure can isolate thermal infrared radiation, achieving both electromagnetic and infrared camouflage capabilities, with an infrared emissivity as low as 0.06. Two co-fabricated textile monopole antennas were experimentally characterized with the REBG to validate reflection behavior. The metasurface boosts realized gain by 5 dB at 2.48 GHz and 5.84 GHz. Consistent agreement between simulations and measurements proves the dual-mode metasurface’s efficacy.
AB - This paper presents an ultra-light, low-cost reconfigurable metasurface functioning as both reflector and absorber, with mode switching via a lossy electromagnetic bandgap (EBG) layer. In reflection mode, the reflecting EBG (REBG) structure exhibits in-phase reflection characteristics at 2.48 and 5.84 GHz, with its dual-band operation achieved through a square patch configuration. In absorption mode, the integration of a lossy EBG layer atop the REBG enables relatively wideband absorption, while preserving insensitivity to polarization and exhibiting stability against varying incident angles. The absorption band fully encompasses the reflection band by employing an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven antenna optimization technique, specifically, the self-adaptive Bayesian neural network surrogate model-assisted differential evolution for antenna optimization (SB-SADEA) method. With a peak absorption rate reaching 99 %, the developed prototype sustains over 90 % absorption efficiency throughout the 2.2–7.28 GHz band. Additionally, this structure can isolate thermal infrared radiation, achieving both electromagnetic and infrared camouflage capabilities, with an infrared emissivity as low as 0.06. Two co-fabricated textile monopole antennas were experimentally characterized with the REBG to validate reflection behavior. The metasurface boosts realized gain by 5 dB at 2.48 GHz and 5.84 GHz. Consistent agreement between simulations and measurements proves the dual-mode metasurface’s efficacy.
KW - Textile metasurface
KW - Reconfigurable
KW - Reflection
KW - Relatively wideband absorption
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105012317210
U2 - 10.1016/j.matdes.2025.114470
DO - 10.1016/j.matdes.2025.114470
M3 - Article
SN - 0264-1275
VL - 257
JO - Materials and Design
JF - Materials and Design
M1 - 114470
ER -
SDG 9 Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure