Comparison of Active Electrode Materials for Non-Contact ECG Measurement

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Wearable Health Technology

Background:

• Traditional electrocardiograph (ECG) monitoring requires skin contact, limiting long-term convenience.
• There is a need for unobtrusive and comfortable ECG monitoring solutions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose and evaluate an active-electrode-based system for through-clothing ECG monitoring.
• To assess the performance of different flexible materials for the sensing layer of active electrodes.

Main Methods:

• Developed an active-electrode ECG monitoring system with signal processing and an empirical mode decomposition (EMD) denoising algorithm.
• Compared ECG signals from active electrodes with traditional Ag/AgCl electrodes.
• Tested three flexible materials (conductive textile, copper foil tape, FPC) for the sensing layer in various postures.

Main Results:

• Effective and clear ECG waveforms were obtained using all tested flexible materials.
• Flexible printed circuits (FPCs) demonstrated superior signal quality compared to conductive textile and copper foil tape.
• Statistical analysis (t-test) confirmed the significant difference in signal quality.

Conclusions:

• The proposed active-electrode system enables convenient, through-clothing ECG monitoring.
• FPCs are a promising material for developing high-quality sensing layers in active ECG electrodes.
• This technology has potential for improved long-term and wearable cardiac monitoring.