title: Microengineered Conductive Elastomeric Electrodes for Long-Term Electrophysiological Measurements with Consistent Impedance under Stretch.
abstract: In this research, we develop a micro-engineered conductive elastomeric electrode for measurements of human bio-potentials with the absence of conductive pastes. Mixing the biocompatible polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) silicone with other biocompatible conductive nano-particles further provides the material with an electrical conductivity. We apply micro-replica mold casting for the micro-structures, which are arrays of micro-pillars embedded between two bulk conductive-PDMS layers. These micro-structures can reduce the micro-structural deformations along the direction of signal transmission; therefore the corresponding electrical impedance under the physical stretch by the movement of the human body can be maintained. Additionally, we conduct experiments to compare the electrical properties between the bulk conductive-PDMS material and the microengineered electrodes under stretch. We also demonstrate the working performance of these micro-engineered electrodes in the acquisition of the 12-lead electrocardiographs (ECG) of a healthy subject. Together, the presented gel-less microengineered electrodes can provide a more convenient and stable bio-potential measurement platform, making tele-medical care more achievable with reduced technical barriers for instrument installation performed by patients/users themselves.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China. dinglhu2-c@my.cityu.edu.hk.
authors.forename: Dinglong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China. tinkeicheng@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Tin Kei
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China. kaixie2-c@my.cityu.edu.hk.
authors.forename: Kai
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China. rhwlam@cityu.edu.hk.
authors.forename: Raymond H W
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Lam
mesh_terms: D004129:Dimethylpolysiloxanes / Q000737:chemistry; D020724:Elastomers; D004553:Electric Conductivity; D017097:Electric Impedance; D004562:Electrocardiography; D004566:Electrodes; D004594:Electrophysiology / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D004129:Dimethylpolysiloxanes; D020724:Elastomers; D011108:Polymers; C036925:elastomeric polymer; C013830:baysilon
keywords: ECG; PDMS; biopotential; microstructure; nanoparticle