Multiwalled carbon nanotube-based patch antenna for bandwidth enhancement

•A novel CNT based rectangular microstrip antenna for wide bandwidth applications.•Fabricated MWCNT patch antenna exhibits an increased impedance bandwidth of 20%.•The enhancement in bandwidth does not affect broadside radiation characteristics.•Unique properties of MWCNT influence the enhancement in the bandwidth.•Simple design and fabrication of proposed antenna is useful in radar applications. A novel carbon nanotube (CNT)-based rectangular microstrip antenna for wide impedance bandwidth applications has been designed and developed. The copper patch commonly placed on the substrate in a conventional rectangular microstrip antenna is replaced with a CNT patch prepared using spin coating. The MWCNT patch antenna was fabricated by spin coating method and it exhibits an increased impedance bandwidth of 20%. The enhancement of the impedance bandwidth does not affect the broadside radiation characteristics. The carbon nanotubes are highly conductive nanomaterial. Due to this unique property, each nanotube present on the surface resonates electromagnetic waves individually and influences the enhancement in the bandwidth. The simple design and fabrication of the proposed antenna can be employed for synthetic aperture radar applications.