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Nanomaterial-Enabled Dry Electrodes for Electrophysiological Sensing: A Review

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Abstract

Long-term, continuous, and unsupervised tracking of physiological data is becoming increasingly attractive for health/wellness monitoring and ailment treatment. Nanomaterials have recently attracted extensive attention as building blocks for flexible/stretchable conductors and are thus promising candidates for electrophysiological electrodes. Here we provide a review on nanomaterial-enabled dry electrodes for electrophysiological sensing, focusing on electrocardiography (ECG). The dry electrodes can be classified into contact surface electrodes, contact-penetrating electrodes, and noncontact capacitive electrodes. Different types of electrodes including their corresponding equivalent electrode–skin interface models and the sources of the noise are first introduced, followed by a review on recent developments of dry ECG electrodes based on various nanomaterials, including metallic nanowires, metallic nanoparticles, carbon nanotubes, and graphene. Their fabrication processes and performances in terms of electrode–skin impedance, signal-to-noise ratio, resistance to motion artifacts, skin compatibility, and long-term stability are discussed.

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Acknowledgement

This material is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) through the ASSIST Engineering Research Center at NC State (EEC-1160483).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, 27695, USA

    Shanshan Yao & Yong Zhu

  2. Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, 27695, USA

    Yong Zhu

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  1. Shanshan Yao
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  2. Yong Zhu
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Correspondence to Yong Zhu.

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Yao, S., Zhu, Y. Nanomaterial-Enabled Dry Electrodes for Electrophysiological Sensing: A Review. JOM 68, 1145–1155 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11837-016-1818-0

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