Study of Electromagnetic Properties of Pencil Drawn graphite composite

Films on Paper.
Amit R. Morarka*, Aditee C. Joshi
Department of Electronic Science, Savitribai Phule Pune University. Pune-411 007. India
*E-mail: amitmorarka@gmail.com , amitm@electronics.unipune.ac.in 

Abstract
Graphite has been one of the promising materials in diverse application domains owing to its
high conductivity, tunability into different structures and mechanical strength its. The
effectiveness of graphite and its derivatives has been studied for electromagnetic domains as
well. Pencil strokes on paper create a film of graphite composites which is reported to be useful
for fabrication of electronic components. In our study, we extend use of pencil traces on paper
for studying its electromagnetic properties. The pencil traces on paper is facile method of coating
graphite composite films with relatively lower cost and ease of processing. The interaction of
electromagnetic wave with graphite composites produces in modulation of the incident RF
power. The RF power was observed to get attenuated with pencil coating on paper as compared
to plain paper. The attenuation increased with increasing the signal frequency. Further, stacking
more pencil coated papers onto each other results in increasing attenuation factor. Additionally,
these pencil coated paper roll was able to attenuate the incoming noise signals in the radio signal
reception. This demonstrates potential ability of pencil coated papers to be used for small RF
power attenuation applications.

Keywords: Graphite, Pencil traces, RF power attenuation,

1.0 Introduction
Graphite is one of the most potential materials due to its versatile properties in electrical, thermal
and mechanical domains. Additionally graphite can be tailored into various forms like exfoliated
graphite, colloidal graphite, flexible graphite, that has been explored in many applications [1-4].
It possesses good electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity; the higher conductivity in
graphite can be attributed to availability of delocalized electrons for conduction. The
conductivity values are comparable to that of metals. This electrical characteristic of graphite
makes it useful candidate in applications for electromagnetism studies. As a result, much of
research has been carried out to explore various applications of graphite and its different forms.
Flexible graphite sheets have been reported to attenuate the electromagnetic radiation with a
power attenuation value of 125-130 dB [4-7]. Furthermore graphite composites prepared with
epoxy and polymers have proved to be useful in EMI shielding and microwave absorption
properties [2-3].Amongst all the sources and structures of graphite, pencil lead happens to be one
of the simplest and low cost source of graphite. Pencil, a routinely used writing tool contains
graphite composites in its lead. It consists of graphite added together with intercalated clay and
small amount of wax [8-10]. Pencil strokes on surface like paper yield a film of graphite
composites. Such kind of Pencil drawn films on paper have yielded many applications including
fabrication of passive components like resistor, capacitor and field effect transistors
[11].However to the best of our knowledge electromagnetic properties of pencil drawn films on
paper have not been explored.

1 
 
 In our study we have used pencil traces to make a film of graphite composites on paper
sheets. For this purpose we have coated normal printing papers by putting pencil strokes. The
pencil coated papers were characterized for structural characteristics of graphite composites and
further investigated for RF power transmission and reception characteristics between the
frequencies range 500 MHz-2.5 GHz. The RF power modulation was significant with the
addition of pencil coated paper. Further, RF power variation got remarkably improved as number
of layers of pencil coated papers was added. Through this study we report pencil traces as very
facile and novel technique for modulating incident RF power.

2.0 Material and Methods

2.1 Instrument Details

All the monopole antenna characteristic spectrum was recorded on vector network analyzer by
Agilent Technologies E5062A with range of 300 KHz-3GHz. RF generator from Agilent
Technologies, N9310A having range of 9kHz-3GHz was used to generate signal of a specific
frequency and power. The transmitted power was measured by using a power meter 437B using
8481A power sensor from Hewlett-Packard. Raman spectrum was recorded using Renishaw
Raman spectrometer and laser source with excitation wavelength 532 nm was used. Micro
balance from Citizen (CX-165) has been used for weighing the plain papers and pencil coated
papers.

2. 2 Experimental Procedure

The substrate materials used were readily available printing paper (average of 10 samples ,
thickness measured using micrometer screw gauge-99.2 µm). The pencils used are 9B grade.
The paper sheet is cut into a size of dimensions 21 cm x 7 cm. The complete area of paper was
covered with pencil strokes to lead a conductive surface. The effective thickness of the coated
graphite was measured by using gravimetric method. For this purpose the weight of the blank
paper was recorded before coating and again after coating with pencil. By using the weight
difference and other constants thickness of the coated graphite was calculated.
Monopole antennae were fabricated for five different frequencies in range of 500 MHz-
2.5 GHz. For each frequency two antennae were fabricated; one is for transmitting the RF power
and other as a receiver. Antenna responses were measured by using vector network analyzer. The
characteristic spectrum for each antenna is given in supplementary information.
For measuring the RF power attenuation characteristics a setup consisting of two
monopole antennae, a mount for holding the pencil coated paper along with RF generator and
power meter was used. Monopole antenna was used as a transmitter and a receiver as well. Each
antenna was mounted on wooden stand and pencil coated paper was inserted in a mount made up

2 
 
of cardbo
oard on a foaam base. In all set up caare was takenn to ensure tthat all the m
mounts and sstands
were non
n-conducting
g in nature. For each freequency RF power is traansmitted thhrough the screen
and receiived power was
w measureed using pow
wer meter ussing anotherr monopole aantenna placced in
front of the
t mount. The
T schemattic of the settup is given in the follow
wing Fig.1a. The photoggraph
of actuall setup is alsso given in Fig.1b. Add
ditionally, seetup was sligghtly changeed for measuring
the refleccted power from graphiite coated su
urface. In thhis, transmiitting and reeceiving anteennae
were placced on samee side of grap
phite coated
d paper. The photographh of the setupp is shown in fig.
1c.

Fig
g.1a Schemaatic of the settup used forr RF power aattenuation.

3 
 
 Fig.1b Actual phottograph of th
he setup usedd for RF pow
wer attenuatiion.

Fig.1c Actual
A photog
graph of the setup used for
f measurinng reflected ppower from graphite surrface.
4 
 
The observed valuee of antenn na frequency y was slighhtly differennt than the designed vvalue.
Antenna dimensions were slighttly different than actual designed w wavelength hhence there wwas a
n in frequenccy. The actu
deviation ual frequency y value was set on RF ggenerator succh that maxiimum
power was received on the poweer meter durring measureement. In orrder to studyy the effect oof the
pencil co
oated paper, initially thee measurem ments were m made on blannk paper wiithout any ppencil
coatings. Further sinngle pencil coated pap per sheet wwas inserted into the m mount and ppower
measurem ments were performed. Subsequentlly, other papper sheet waas added oveer previous ppaper
and readdings were repeated.
r In this way to otal ten penccil coated papers were added onto each
other and
d RF power variation
v chaaracteristics was studiedd.

RF poweer attenuation n was measu

ured by takin
ng logarithm
mic ratio of thhe received ppower to inccident
power. itt is given as follows:

Atten
nuation = 10
0 log (Preceiveed/ P transmittedd)

3.0 Results and Discussion

D
The
T Raman spectrum
s reecorded on graphite
g commposite pow wder is show wn in Fig.2.. The
observedd spectra sho
owed three prominent
p peaks at 13466 cm-1, 1581 cm-1 and 22720 cm-1 w which
corresponnd to the D, G and 2D bands,
b respeectively. Thiss result is inn accordancee with the Raman
spectrum
m obtained foor pencil tracce in previouus report [1 1]. The G band arises fr from stretching of
the sp2 bonded
b carbo
on lattice and D band orriginates from m the presennce of defeccts in the forrm of
edges andd grain boun
ndaries

man Spectra of
Fig.2 Ram o graphite ccomposite poowder.

The averrage thicknesss of graphitte compositee for all ten papers was ≈ 1.8 µm. The conducctivity
for the grraphite comp
posite was calculated
c ussing value off resistance of film and other dimennsions
such as length and area of paper on which h coatings w were made. The conducctivity valuee was
457.67 S/m.

5 
 
 RF
R power ressponse was monitored for f blank papper and it w was considered as a referrence
power. Then
T for each
h added paper power waas recorded aand readingss were repeaated for ten ttimes
and averrage value of o power wasw calculateed. This exp xperiment w was repeatedd for all thee five
frequencies in the ran nge 500 MHHz-2.5 GHz. RF power aattenuation w was calculateed for each ppaper
based on n average traansmitted poower. The av verage attenuuation valuee with additiion of numbber of
papers iss given in thhe followingg Fig.3. The graph show ws attenuatioon characteristic measurred at
533 MHzz. It can be observed frrom the grap ph that addiition of firstt pencil coatted sheet abbsorbs
significannt amount of RF power that results in attenuati on of RF poower at the rreceiver endd. The
response shows that RF power deecays as we add numberr of pencil cooated paperss which is siimilar
to previoous reports [4
4-5].
For all the other frequenccies similar trend of pow wer decay w was observedd. As seen inn Fig.
3,it can be
b noted thatt as we increease the frequuency the chharacteristic attenuation also increaseed.

Fig.3 RF pow
wer attenuatio
on at differentt frequencies with total num
mber of papers added.

The RF power
p attenu
uation throug
gh all ten pap
pers at diffeerent frequenncies is plotted in the Figg.4. It
can be depicted that as frequenccy increases RF power aattenuation aalso increasees. This indiicates
that out of the amou unt of powerr transmittedd, substantiaal amount off power is ggetting dissippated
due to peencil coated paper.
p

6 
 
 Fig.4 RF
R power atten
nuation at diff
fferent frequenncies for all teen papers addded.

The
T RF poweer attenuatio on through a specific maaterial depennds on thickkness of matterial,
skin depth at certain n frequency and conducctivity. In ouur study wee keep increeasing numbber of
papers on n the screen
n effectively increasing thet thicknesss of graphitte compositees which hellps in
increasin
ng amount off attenuation n for incidentt RF power.
We
W have obsserved that RF signal gets g attenuaated while ppropagating through graaphite
coated papers. Furth hermore, wee have studiied the refleection charaacteristics off RF signal from
graphite coated papeers. As show wn in fig.1c we have keept transmittting and receeiving antennna at
same sidde of graphitte coated paapers. The distance
d betw
ween the recceiver antennna and refleecting
surface was
w varied and a RF power was meassured. If theere is no refl flection the ppower will ggo on
decreasinng with incrreasing distaance. Now during distaance variatiions if theree is any refllected
wave it will
w interferee with incideent wave. Ass per the stannding wave ttheory [12], this will ressult in
minimum m and maxim mum powerr at differen nt points. Thhe followinng graph in figure 5a sshows
observedd power variation for 1.5 5 GHz frequ uency. Up too 40 cm disttance the power gets redduced
with distance but afteer that poweer was increaased (inset fiig. 5a). At thhis distance w
we have rem
moved
each penncil coated paper
p and measured
m powwer for remaaining paperrs as indicatted by Fig. 55b. It
can be observed
o thaat as we deecrease num mber of grapphite coatedd papers thee power goees on
decreasinng indicative of decreaase in refleccted compoonent. This shows that graphite coated
surface acts
a like a metallic
m refleccting surfacee. We have oobserved thee reflected ppower in pressence
of graphiite and withoout any grap phite coated paper.
p Fig.55c shows difffference in poower for graaphite
coated papers
p and without an ny graphite coated pappers at the same distaance. For hhigher
frequencies the diffeerence in po ower with graphite
g andd without ggraphite surfface gets sm maller
indicative of reduced d reflected poower. The saame trend is observed foor different ddistance valuues as
well, thiss shows decrrease in refleection powerr with increaasing frequenncy values.

7 
 
 (a) (b)

Fig.5 a)R
RF power atteenuation 1.5 GHz
G for all teen papers addded. Inset show
ws increase inn power at 400 cm
distance. b) Attenuatio
on in reflected
d power at 40
0 cm distance with decrease in number oof graphite cooated
papers.

(c)

g.5 c) Changee in observed at same distan

Fig nce for graphhite coated pappers and withhout papers .

3.1 Mech
hanism of RF
R signal atttenuation thrrough penciil coated pappers

An
A electromaagnetic wavee propagatin
ng through a medium unndergoes chaange in its poower.
While in
nteracting wiith medium part
p of wavee is reflectedd, absorbed and remainiing componeent is
transmittted. For our system we have studied
d interactionn of electrom
magnetic waave with graaphite
coated papers. We have
h observ
ved the transsmitted pow
wer and refleected powerr for variatioon of

8 
 
frequencies. For traansmitted characteristic
c cs the attennuation increases withh frequencyy and
n reduces ov
reflection ver the frequ
uency range.. This characcteristic is ssimilar like m
metal wheree high
frequency
y reflection loss gets red
duced. The mechanism
m ffor this mayy be envisageed on the basis of
propertiees of graphitee composite..
It
I is known that [13] when
w an elecctromagneticc wave proppagates throuugh a mediuum it
interacts with the su
urface chargees. The elecctric field innteraction wiith charges results in ceertain
amount of
o work don
ne on charg
ges, this ressult in reducction in eneergy of wavve. Applyingg this
concept, when the ellectromagnetic wave pro
opagates thrrough the peencil coated paper it inteeracts
with the surface charrges present in the graph
hite compositte. Electric ffield in electtromagnetic wave
does wo
ork on charg
ges present within the volume. T
This results in utilizatioon of energgy of
electromagnetic wav
ve. Thereforee the energy magnetic wavve decreasess as work is done
y of electrom
on charges. This is in
ndicated by attenuation in RF poweer at the receeiver output after propaggating
through first
f pencil coated
c layer.

Fig. 6 Illustration depictting probable signal trannsmission thhrough a staack of ten ppencil
coated paapers.

Furthermore, in our systeem we havee sequentiallly added num

mber of penncil coated llayers
adjacent to each oth
her. The exp
panded view
w of the systtem is illusttrated in thee Fig.6. It sshows
incident electromagn ng through a stack off pencil coaated papers.. For
netic signall propagatin
simplicity
y we have sh
howed only two papers but
b system eextends for sstack of totall ten papers.
When
W the inccident signal enters throu
ugh the first pencil coateed paper the signal ampllitude
is attenuated. Here we
w consider signal atten
nuation ‘A’ at each stagge. The inciident signal from

9 
 
source can be considered as reference signal 100%. The output signal after passing through first
pencil coated paper will be 100-A. It must be noted that the expressions used in the illustration
are only for illustrative purpose. Now this attenuated signal acts as incident signal for second
pencil coated paper which gets decreased to a value of 100-2A. This means that for the adjacent
paper incident signal is attenuated signal from previous stage as depicted in figure. Therefore, as
we stack number of papers signal strength is decreased as compared to original signal. The
attenuation is more or less similar at each stage. But due to reduction in incident signal amplitude
over cascaded stages it appears like attenuated signal amplitude is less than that of first paper.
But it is noteworthy that the signal strength itself is less than the original signal so for the same
attenuation factor the change may not seem cognizable for a single paper. However in case of
stack of ten papers the total attenuation is an integral effect of attenuation at each stage.
The attenuation effect was observed for higher frequencies as well. When the incident
electromagnetic wave passes through the first pencil coated paper, the signal attenuation value
for lower frequency was 10-15% while as we go for highest frequency attenuation is almost
equal to 45%. It is known phenomena that at high frequencies inductive and capacitive
reactances govern over resistive elements. Moreover characteristic impedance of graphite
increases with increasing frequency [12]. This results in increased resistances leading to
increased power dissipation within the material itself. Therefore attenuation increases
significantly as compared to the lower frequencies.
3.2 Application of pencil coated papers in RF noise attenuation.
In order to demonstrate the signal attenuation capacity of graphite coated papers, a small radio
receiver and a control circuit was used as shown in the following Fig.7. The basic principle
underlying the whole unit is whenever radio receives a particular signal the LED connected at
the output will be switched on depending on the strength of received signal. The details of the
control circuit are added in the supplementary information.

10 
 
 Fig. 7 Radiio receiver unit connecteed to control circuit.

In this ciircuit wheneever there is interferencee in radio siggnal due to any peripheeral sources, LED
intensity will be mo
odulated or LED
L will keep blinkingg with interrfering radioo signals. Inn our
applicatio
on we have created thee interfering
g noise sourcce by continnuously swiitching a 9V
V DC
supply using
u a relay
y kept adjaccent to the circuit.
c The continuous RF interferrence from relay
switches on the LED
D as seen in Fig.8.
F

Fig. 8 Radio
R receiveer unit receivin
ng RF interfeerence from a relay oscillattor.

11 
 
 This
T interfereence from th
he surroundin
ng sources nneeds to be m
masked. Forr this purposse we
have cov
vered the enttire relay an
nd battery wiith our penccil coated paapers. We arrbitrarily sellected
six A4 siize papers an
nd coated alll with pencill strokes. Thhese papers w
were rolled aaround relayy unit.
These rolling of papers added to
otal of 12 lay
yers. As wee kept the reelay unit insiide paper rooll the
nking disapp
LED blin peared as shown in Fig.9, which inddicates effecctive maskinng of interferrence
arising frrom relay.

Fiig.9. Masking
g the relay osccillator with ppencil coated paper roll.

These ob
bservations demonstrate
d the
t y of pencil coated papeers to mask the noise siignals
capability
surrounding any RF deevice. This in
ndicates the possibility
p of employing ggraphite compposites from ppencil
traces as a potential maaterial for RF power attenu
uating applicaations.
4.0 Concclusion
A very novel meth
hod of coaating paper with penciil strokes w
was propossed for studdying
electromagnetic prop
perties of grraphite comp
posites. Thee graphite coomposites inn the pencil trace
provides modulation of the incid
dent RF poweer. The attennuation charaacteristic goot improved aas we
go on ad
dding more pencil
p coateed papers on
nto each othher. The incrreasing thickkness of graaphite
wer attenuattion capacityy for the inncident signaal. Further, these
layers heelps to enhaance the pow
pencil co
oated paper roll was ab
ble to attenu
uate the incooming noisee signals in the radio ssignal
reception
n. This demo
onstrates cap
pability of pencil coatedd papers to bbe used for ssmall RF ppower
attenuatio
on applicatio
ons.

12 
 
References

1. R. Song, Q. Wang , B. Mao , Z. Wang, D. Tang, B. Zhang , J. Zhang , C. Liu , D. He , Z.

Wu, S. Mu, Flexible graphite films with high conductivity for radio-frequency antennas,
Carbon 130 (2018) 164-169.
2. I V Senyk, V Z Barsukov, B M Savchenko, K L Shevchenko, V P Plavan, Yu V Shpak
and O A Kruykova, Composite materials for protection against electromagnetic
microwave radiation, IOP Conf. Ser.: Mater. Sci. Eng. 111 (2016) 012026:1-6.
3. S. Bellucci, F. Micciulla, V. M. Levin, Yu. S. Petronyuk,L. A. Chernozatonskii, P. P.
Kuzhir, A. G. Paddubskaya, J. Macutkevic, M. A. Pletnev, V. Fierro, and A. Celzard,
Microstructure, elastic and electromagnetic properties of epoxy-graphite composites, AIP
Advances 5 (2015) 067137:1-10.
4. X. Luo , D. D. L. Chung, Electromagnetic Interference shielding reaching 130 dB using
flexible graphite. Carbon 34 (1996) 1293-1303.
5. X. Luo, R. Chugh, B. C. Biller, Y. Meng Hoi, and D.D.L. Chung, Electronic applications
of flexible graphite, J. of Electronic Materials. 31 (2002) 535-544.
6. X. Luo, D.D.L. Chung. Electromagnetic Interference shielding reaching 130 dB using
flexible graphite. Mat. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. 445 (1997) 235-238.
7. D.D.L. Chung, Electromagnetic interference shielding effectiveness of carbon
Materials. Carbon 39 (2001) 279–285.
8. S. Cain, A. A. Cantu, R. Brunnelle and A. Lyter, A scientific study of pencil lead
components. J. Forensic Sci. 23 (1978) 643–661.
9. J. A. Zoro and R. N. Totty, The Application of Mass Spectrometry to the Study of Pencil
Marks, J. Forensic Sci. 25 (1980) 675–678.
10. J. A. Denman, I. M. Kempson, W. M. Skinner and K.P. Kirkbride, Discrimination of
pencil markings on paper using elemental analysis: an initial investigation, Forensic Sci.
Int. 175 (2008) 123–129.
11. N. Kurra, D. Dutta and G. U. Kulkarni, Field effect transistors and RC filters from pencil-
trace on paper, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 15 (2013) 8367-8372.
12. John D. Kraus, Keith R. Carver. Electromagnetics, second edition. Mc Graw Hill
Kogakusha,1973.
13. David J. Griffiths. Introduction to Electrodynamics, Third Edition. Pearson
Education(Singapore) pte ltd, Delhi, India,2003.
 

13 
 
 Supplemen
ntary Inform
mation

Monopole Antenna Response

Monopolle antennae were
w fabricaated for five different freequencies in range of 5000 MHz-2.5 GHz.
Antenna responses was
w measured
d by using vector
v netwoork analyzerr. The characcteristic specctrum
for each antenna is given in following
fo fig
gures. S11 m
measurementts were perrformed for each
antenna pair,
p the observed frequeency compon
nent and its hharmonics iss shown in ffollowing figgures.

Fig
g. S1 Antenn
nae spectrum
m for design ffrequency off 500 MHz.

Fig.
F S2 Anten
nnae spectru
um for designn frequency of 1GHz.

14 
 
 Fig. S3 Antenn
nae spectrum
m for designn frequency oof 1.5GHz.

Fiig. S4 Anten
nnae spectrum
m for designn frequency of 2 GHz.

Fig
g. S5 Antenn
nae spectrum
m for design frequency oof 2.5 GHz.

15 
 
Details of
o Radio con
ntrol circuitt
The circu
uit shown in
n figure S6 is a radio co
ontrol circuiit. That is frrequently ussed to controol the
remote start a tape recorder,
r sw
witch on a caamera or anny other apppliance. Thiss circuit basiically
senses th
he audio sig
gnal input which
w is further processeed, amplifieed and drivees a LED. Once
audio sig
gnal is receiv
ved LED at the
t output will
w be switchhed ON. In pplace of LED
D relay is m
mostly
used in order
o to act as
a control sw
witch for the connected ddevices.

Fig. S6
S Schematiic of Radio ccontrol circuuit
In
n our application we haave connecteed a radio reeceiver at auudio input of the circuitt. The
radio recceiver is set to work AM
M mode of operation.
o Thhe receiver iis not tuned to any partiicular
AM statiion frequenccy so there iss no signal received
r at thhe input of oour control ccircuit. Therrefore
LED at the
t output reemains switched OFF. The
T momennt we place a relay oscilllator adjaceent to
control circuit
c the interference RF
R signal creeated from ooscillator is ssensed by coontrol circuiit and
subsequeently LED sw
witched ON.. Now the reelay oscillatoor is coveredd by pencil ccoated paperrs and
placed neear control circuit.
c Wheen relay oscillator was sswitched ON
N it generatted RF signaal but
due to peencil coated layers radio
o control circcuit was nott receiving R
RF signal and hence LED
D did
not switcch ON.

16