PEDOT:PSS/PDMS-coated cotton fabric for ECG electrode

For electrocardiography (ECG) applications, gel dependant metallic electrodes such as Ag/AgCl are typically used, but these cause skin irritation and become dehydrated over time. To overcome these problems, a flexible electro-conductive textile material with a surface resistance of 332.5 Ω/sq and resistivity of 6.6 Ω.cm has been developed by coating PEDOT:PSS/PDMS on cotton fabric via flat screen printing. The coated fabric has been used to construct ECG electrodes and was compared with standard Ag/AgCl electrodes. An ECG waveform (with peaks P = 0.14 mV, QRS = 0.96 mV and T = 0.36 mV) has been collected with the textile-based electrodes during 3 minutes of static ECG measurement. The signal quality was comparable with the Ag/AgCl standard electrodes (P = 0.15 mV, QRS = 0.98 mV and T = 0.48 mV). The textile-based dry electrodes could potentially replace the gelled standard biopotential electrodes and avoid associated problems, especially for prolonged monitoring.