Graduates design a pure paper version of RFID tags

A group of design graduates from the Royal College of Arts in London have come up with a method of making RFID UHF tags entirely out of paper. Under the leadership of start-up company Pulpatronics, the team has designed a chipless, pure paper version of RFID tags that do not contain metal or silicon components to reduce the waste of disposable electronic products.

Traditional RFID tags come with microchips and antennas, usually embedded in stickers on paper tags. Due to the mixing of paper, metal, and silicon, they are not recyclable and often end up in landfills. In contrast, Pulpatronics' alternative RFID design does not require any other materials besides paper. The company only uses lasers to mark circuits on its surface and adjust the laser settings so that it does not cut or burn paper, but rather changes its chemical composition to make it conductive.

Compared to standard RFID, making Pulpatronics tags requires fewer steps. The above is a lifecycle diagram of Pulpatronics RFID tags compared to conventional RFID tags, showing that Pulpatronics has fewer steps and cycles. The circuit is carbon based, and the tags can be recycled together with household waste, just like a piece of paper scribbled with a pencil. Pulpatronics states, "This method simplifies the manufacturing process, eliminates the demand for metal and silicon components, and significantly reduces the environmental impact of RFID tag production." Pulpatronics estimates that compared to standard RFID tags, its tags will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 70% while reducing the related production costs of the enterprise in half.

So far, Pulpatronics' paper RFID tags have passed the first round of testing, and the results show that the technology matches the performance of copper based controlled RFID tags. The product is currently undergoing pressure testing, including durability and whether its performance is affected by environmental factors.