Development Of Dry Electrodes Using PDMS and Ag nanowire

Flexible wearable sensors have found increasing application in many situations, especially in biomedical engineering and health care. Recent research has presented methods for fabricating flexible, stretchable, and conductive sensors using silver nanowires embedded in a flexible silicon elastomer (typically polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)) as dry electrodes for ECG (electrocardiograph).
In this project, we will investigate how the fabrication parameters affect the properties and desired sensing performance of formed PDMS and nanowire electrodes, as wearable sensors. Comprehensive understanding obtained from this project will enable the creation of dry electrodes for ECG application, which could resolve the current limitations such as high skin-electrode impedance and artifacts caused by relative skin-electrode motion. Consequently it becomes an alternative for current wet electrodes, the standard for capturing physiological electrical signals in clinical use. Such wet electrodes are silver-silver chloride (Ag-AgCl) based and require conductive gel, which introduce patient discomfort and are unsuitable for regular long-term use.

Faculty Supervisor:

Yongjun Lai

Student:

Richard Helgason

Partner:

Pathway Communications

Discipline:

Engineering - mechanical

Sector:

Manufacturing

University:

Program: