title: Fabrication of Micro-Needle Electrodes for Bio-Signal Recording by a Magnetization-Induced Self-Assembly Method.
abstract: Micro-needle electrodes (MEs) have attracted more and more attention for monitoring physiological electrical signals, including electrode-skin interface impedance (EII), electromyography (EMG) and electrocardiography (ECG) recording. A magnetization-induced self-assembling method (MSM) was developed to fabricate a microneedle array (MA). A MA coated with Ti/Au film was assembled as a ME. The fracture and insertion properties of ME were tested by experiments. The bio-signal recording performance of the ME was measured and compared with a typical commercial wet electrode (Ag/AgCl electrode). The results show that the MA self-assembled from the magnetic droplet array under the sum of gravitational surface tension and magnetic potential energies. The ME had good toughness and could easily pierce rabbit skin without being broken or buckling. When the compression force applied on the ME was larger than 2 N, ME could stably record EII, which was a lower value than that measured by Ag/AgCl electrodes. EMG signals collected by ME varied along with the contraction of biceps brachii muscle. ME could record static ECG signals with a larger amplitude and dynamic ECG signals with more distinguishable features in comparison with a Ag/AgCl electrode, therefore, ME is an alternative electrode for bio-signal monitoring in some specific situations.
authors.affiliation: Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Sensor Technology and Biomedical Instrument, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China. yunzibetterlife@163.com.
authors.forename: Keyun
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Sensor Technology and Biomedical Instrument, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China. rlei@mail2.sysu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.affiliation: Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Sensor Technology and Biomedical Instrument, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China. asm0844@163.com.
authors.forename: Zhipeng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Sensor Technology and Biomedical Instrument, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China. panchf@mail2.sysu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Chengfeng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China. weizhou@xmu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Sensor Technology and Biomedical Instrument, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China. jianglel@mail.sysu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Lelun
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jiang
keywords: ECG; EMG; electrode; impedance; insertion; magnetization-induced self-assembling; micro-needle array