Investigation of flexible electrode and circuit interconnect materials

心电图仪是目前医学领域最重要的评估工具之一 病人的健康。特别是，它经常用于紧急生死情况，其中快速评估是 有必要，例如在诊断心脏病发作时。不幸的是，现有的系统依赖于繁琐的 必须由训练有素的技术人员将电极固定在患者身上；这些电极不仅不舒服，而且 造成不必要的延迟，不适合长期监控。一家位于蒙特利尔的初创企业 开发一种新型的心电图仪来克服这些挑战。然而，他们的实现 设备将需要灵活的电极和电路互连，以确保患者舒适和最佳信号 质量。该项目建议探索柔性导电材料系统来取代这些常规的 电极和互连。这些发现也将有可能对广泛的 需要或需要灵活电路设计的工程应用。

The electrocardiogram (ECG) is currently one of the most important tools used in the medical field to evaluate the health of a patient. In particular, it is often used in acute life-or-death situations where a rapid evaluation is necessary, for example when diagnosing a heart attack. Unfortunately existing systems rely on cumbersome electrodes that must be attached to the patient by a trained technician; these are not only uncomfortable but also cause an undesirable delay and are not suitable for long-term monitoring. A Montreal-based start-up is developing a novel electrocardiogram device to overcome these challenges. However, the realization of their device will require flexible electrodes and circuit interconnects to ensure patient comfort and optimum signal quality. This project proposes to explore flexible conductive material systems to replace these conventional electrodes and interconnects. The findings will also have the potential to be useful for a wide range of engineering applications where flexible circuit designs are desirable or necessary.