Document Type

Article

Date of Original Version

2023

Department

Textiles, Fashion Merchandising and Design

Abstract

Biopotential electrodes play an integral role within smart wearables and clothing in capturing vital signals like electrocardiogram (ECG), electromyogram (EMG), and electroencephalogram (EEG). This study focuses on dry e-textile electrodes (E1–E6) and a laser-cut knit electrode (E7), to assess their impedance characteristics under varying contact forces and moisture conditions. Synthetic perspiration was applied using a moisture management tester and impedance was measured before and after exposure, followed by a 24 h controlled drying period. Concurrently, the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the dry electrode was evaluated during ECG data collection on a healthy participant. Our findings revealed that, prior to moisture exposure, the impedance of electrodes E7, E5, and E2 was below 200 ohm, dropping to below 120 ohm post-exposure. Embroidered electrodes E6 and E4 exhibited an over 25% decrease in mean impedance after moisture exposure, indicating the impact of stitch design and moisture on impedance. Following the controlled drying, certain electrodes (E1, E2, E3, and E4) experienced an over 30% increase in mean impedance. Overall, knit electrode E7, and embroidered electrodes E2 and E6, demonstrated superior performance in terms of impedance, moisture retention, and ECG signal quality, revealing promising avenues for future biopotential electrode designs.

Publication Title, e.g., Journal

Biosensors

Volume

13

Issue

7

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Comment

Vignesh Ravichandran, Md. Abdullah al Rumon, Dhaval Solanki and Kunal Mankodiy are from the Department of Electrical, Computer and Biomedical Engineering.

Izabela Ciesielska-Wróbel is from the Department of Textiles, Fashion Merchandising and Design.

Download

Share

COinS