Flexible PDMS electrode for one-point wearable wireless bio-potential acquisition

Abstract This work presents a flexible poly-dimethylsiloxane (PDMS) electrode for a one-point, wearable, wireless bio-potential acquisition device. The proposed device measures electrocardiogram (ECG) signals and removes cumbersome wires from a general ECG monitoring system. A novel flexible PDMS dry electrode (FPDE) is constructed with Au as a contact layer in bio-compatible with skin and PDMS. However, PDMS has exhibited stability limit in Au deposition and patterning. This limitation is solved by the surface treatment of PDMS via CO 2 laser to increase surface roughness from nm to μm scale. The laser treatment method can increase the adhesion ratio by up to 57% (max.), subsequently allowing for Au to be stably adhered on PDMS by physical deposition and patterning. This work also develops a simple technology to fabricate FPDEs by adopting polyimide film as the mask made with CO 2 laser capable of reducing cost and reusable for metal patterning applications. Furthermore, a front-end acquisition circuit and a wireless ZigBee module are integrated and packaged by flexible and transparent PDMS cover with three-pad FPDEs into a novel one-point, wearable, wireless ECG acquisition device. Importantly, the proposed device can obtain ECG signals efficiently with comfortable skin touch.