Additively Manufactured Pneumatically Driven Skin Electrodes

• Main Authors: Martin Schubert, Martin Schmidt, Paul Wolter, Hagen Malberg, Sebastian Zaunseder, Karlheinz Bock
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2017-12-01
• Series: Materials
• Subjects: additive processing; 3D printing; on demand skin electrode; expandable electrode; electro dermal activity
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/11/1/19

Telemedicine focuses on improving the quality of health care, particularly in out-of-hospital settings. One of the most important applications is the continuous remote monitoring of vital parameters. Long-term monitoring of biopotentials requires skin-electrodes. State-of-the-art electrodes such as Ag/AgCl wet electrodes lead, especially during long-term application, to complications, e.g., skin irritations. This paper presents a low-cost, on-demand electrode approach for future long-term applications. The fully printed module comprises a polymeric substrate with electrodes on a flexible membrane, which establishes skin contact only for short time in case of measurement. The membranes that produce airtight seals for pressure chambers can be pneumatically dilated and pressed onto the skin to ensure good contact, and subsequently retracted. The dilatation depends on the pressure and membrane thickness, which has been tested up to 150 kPa. The electrodes were fabricated in screen and inkjet printing technology, and compared during exemplary electrodermal activity measurement (EDA). The results show less amplitude compared to conventional EDA electrodes but similar behavior. Because of the manufacturing process the module enables high individuality for future applications.