Wearable polyimide-PDMS electrodes for intrabody communication

Jin Hee Moon, Dong Hyun Baek, Yoon Young Choi, Kwang Ho Lee, Hee Chan Kim, Sang Hoon Lee

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    76 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    In this paper, we introduce a novel wearable electrode for an intra-body area network (I-BAN) by employing the advantages of polyimide (PI) which is a well-known substrate material for flexible electrodes and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) which is a biocompatible and representative soft-lithography adaptable material. Electrodes were patterned onto thin and flexible PI substrates and encapsulated in PDMS to enhance skin compatibility. For this purpose, we developed an electrode fabrication process on thin PI substrates and a PDMS encapsulation technique by bonding two PDMS layers on the front and back surfaces of the PI electrode. The mechanical property and communication performance of electrodes were characterized through spectrum analysis to optimize the role as an I-BAN electrode. Skin-compatibility and cyto-toxicity tests using human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) were carried out to demonstrate the non-toxicity of the electrode after continuous wearing. Sinusoidal signals of 45 MHz were successfully transmitted with high fidelity between electrodes separated by 30 cm.

    Original languageEnglish
    Article number025032
    JournalJournal of Micromechanics and Microengineering
    Volume20
    Issue number2
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2010

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
    • Mechanics of Materials
    • Mechanical Engineering
    • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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