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The research aims to develop new silicone-based dry EEG electrodes that improve lifespan and signal fidelity during performance.

October 31, 2016Open Access

New Flexible Silicone-Based EEG Dry Sensor Material Compositions Exhibiting Improvements in Lifespan, Conductivity, and Reliability

YYYi-Hsin YuNational Taiwan University SCShih-Hsun ChenNational Taipei University of Technology CCChe‐Lun ChangNational Kaohsiung First University of Science and Technology

Key Points

The research aims to develop new silicone-based dry EEG electrodes that improve lifespan and signal fidelity during performance.
Fabricated electrodes with varying silver-coated silica and silver flake concentrations.
Conducted scanning electron microscope analysis to assess electrode construction quality.
Performed initial human experiments for feasibility testing in lab data collection.
New electrode materials showed significant improvements in EEG measurements under varied conditions.
Demonstrated reliable performance with low impedance even after exposure to high humidity and temperature fluctuations.
Initial human experiments confirmed feasibility for lab data collection applications.

Abstract

This study investigates alternative material compositions for flexible silicone-based dry electroencephalography (EEG) electrodes to improve the performance lifespan while maintaining high-fidelity transmission of EEG signals. Electrode materials were fabricated with varying concentrations of silver-coated silica and silver flakes to evaluate their electrical, mechanical, and EEG transmission performance. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis of the initial electrode development identified some weak points in the sensors' construction, including particle pull-out and ablation of the silver coating on the silica filler. The newly-developed sensor materials achieved significant improvement in EEG measurements while maintaining the advantages of previous silicone-based electrodes, including flexibility and non-toxicity. The experimental results indicated that the proposed electrodes maintained suitable performance even after exposure to temperature fluctuations, 85% relative humidity, and enhanced corrosion conditions demonstrating improvements in the environmental stability. Fabricated flat (forehead) and acicular (hairy sites) electrodes composed of the optimum identified formulation exhibited low impedance and reliable EEG measurement; some initial human experiments demonstrate the feasibility of using these silicone-based electrodes for typical lab data collection applications.

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