Embroidered electrode with silver/titanium coating for long-term ECG monitoring

• Published in: Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 15; no. 1; pp. 1750 - 1759
• Main Authors: Weder, Markus, Hegemann, Dirk, Amberg, Martin, Hess, Markus, Boesel, Luciano F, Abächerli, Roger, Meyer, Veronika R, Rossi, René M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 15.01.2015; MDPI
• Subjects: Breast; Coated Materials, Biocompatible - pharmacology; ECG; ECG belt; electrocardiogram; Electrocardiography; Electrodes; embroidered electrode; Humans; Laboratories; long-term ECG monitoring; Monitoring; Monitoring, Physiologic; Polyethylene terephthalate; Polyethylene Terephthalates - chemistry; Sensors; Sewing; Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; Silver; Silver - pharmacology; silver-titanium coated polyester electrode; Textiles; Thorax - physiology; Titanium; Titanium - pharmacology; Water vapor; Wettability; United States > US; Switzerland
• ISSN: 1424-8220; 1424-8220
• DOI: 10.3390/s150101750

For the long-time monitoring of electrocardiograms, electrodes must be skin-friendly and non-irritating, but in addition they must deliver leads without artifacts even if the skin is dry and the body is moving. Today's adhesive conducting gel electrodes are not suitable for such applications. We have developed an embroidered textile electrode from polyethylene terephthalate yarn which is plasma-coated with silver for electrical conductivity and with an ultra-thin titanium layer on top for passivation. Two of these electrodes are embedded into a breast belt. They are moisturized with a very low amount of water vapor from an integrated reservoir. The combination of silver, titanium and water vapor results in an excellent electrode chemistry. With this belt the long-time monitoring of electrocardiography (ECG) is possible at rest as well as when the patient is moving.