Development of nanowires-PDMS dry electrode sensors for ambulatory ECG monitoring device

柔性可穿戴传感器在许多场合得到了越来越多的应用，特别是在生物医学工程和医疗保健方面。最近的研究提出了使用嵌入柔性硅弹性体(典型地是聚二甲基硅氧烷(PDMS))中的银纳米线来制造柔性、可伸展和导电传感器的方法。在这种情况下，PDMS和纳米线在开发基于电容或电阻变化的可穿戴传感器方面具有巨大的潜力，可以用于许多应用，如心电图仪的干电极。然而，在这项技术得到更广泛的应用之前，还需要深入了解形成的柔性传感器的机械和电学性能之间的关系，如表面粘附性、硬度、灵敏度、阻抗等。在这个项目中，我们将研究制造参数如何影响形成的PDMS和纳米线电极作为可穿戴传感器的性能(机械和电学)和期望的传感性能。通过本项目获得的全面了解将为ECG应用创建干燥电极，这将解决目前的限制，如高皮肤电极阻抗和伪影的相对皮肤电极运动。因此，它成为临床上用于捕获生理电信号的标准电流湿电极的替代品。这类湿电极是以氯化银(Ag-AgCl)为基础的，需要导电凝胶，这会给患者带来不适，不适合常规的长期使用。该项目的成功将使我们全面了解PDMS和纳米线传感器的制备参数和性能之间的关系，并为我们的工业合作伙伴生产理想的心电干电极铺平道路，这将潜在地提高加拿大人的健康护理质量并降低成本。

Flexible wearable sensors have found increasing application in many situations, especially in biomedicalengineering and health care. Recent research has presented methods for fabricating flexible, stretchable, andconductive sensors using silver nanowires embedded in a flexible silicon elastomer (typicallypolydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)). In such a way, PDMS and nanowires have great potential for developingwearable sensors, based on capacitance or resistance changes, which can be used to many applications, such as,dry electrodes for ECG (electrocardiograph). However, in-depth understanding of the correlation betweenfabrication process and mechanical and electrical properties of the formed flexible sensor, such as, surfaceadhesion, stiffness, sensitivity, impedance, still need to be discovered before this technology can be used morewidely.In this project, we will investigate how the fabrication parameters affect the properties (mechanical andelectrical) and desired sensing performance of formed PDMS and nanowire electrodes, as wearable sensors.Comprehensive understanding obtained from this project will enable the creation of dry electrodes for ECGapplication, which could resolve the current limitations such as high skin-electrode impedance and artifactscaused by relative skin-electrode motion. Consequently it becomes an alternative for current wet electrodes, thestandard for capturing physiological electrical signals in clinical use. Such wet electrodes are silver-silverchloride (Ag-AgCl) based and require conductive gel, which introduce patient discomfort and are unsuitablefor regular long-term use.Success of this project will provide comprehensive understanding of the correlation between fabricationparameters and properties and the performance of PDMS and nanowire sensors, and pave the way for ourindustrial partner to produce desirable dry electrodes for ECG, which will potentially improve health carequality and reduce cost for Canadians.