Fabrication and application of flexible EEG dry electrode based on stacked-template method

Abstract

Electroencephalography (EEG) is a generally adopted method to monitor a person's brain activity. Traditional EEG recording usually uses wet electrodes with lower contact impedance due to conductive gels. Nonetheless, the conductive gel needs pretreated skin, which leads to allergies by long-term use. In this paper, a kind of barb micro-structured (BMS) dry electrode is presented. The coating, electrical, and electrochemical properties of the electrode are studied in detail. The EEG signals of calm and blinking eyes can be collected by placing the BMS dry electrode on the forehead of the human body. Compared to the traditional wet and planar dry electrodes, BMS dry electrodes do not need pretreated skin before use, and they have a stronger anti-hair interference performance. They also record high-quality EEG signals. Further, a mercaptan treatment is used on the surface of the electrode, which effectively improves its corrosion resistance rate (corrosion resistance rate of 26.78%), which is conducive to the long-term use of the electrode, and forms a research basis for the development of the intelligent wearable field.