Chen Keyun, Ren Lei, Chen Zhipeng, Pan Chengfeng, Zhou Wei, Jiang Lelun
Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Sensor Technology and Biomedical Instrument, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China.
Department of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China.
Sensors (Basel). 2016 Sep 20;16(9):1533. doi: 10.3390/s16091533.
Micro-needle electrodes (MEs) have attracted more and more attention for monitoring physiological electrical signals, including electrode-skin interface impedance (EII), electromyography (EMG) and electrocardiography (ECG) recording. A magnetization-induced self-assembling method (MSM) was developed to fabricate a microneedle array (MA). A MA coated with Ti/Au film was assembled as a ME. The fracture and insertion properties of ME were tested by experiments. The bio-signal recording performance of the ME was measured and compared with a typical commercial wet electrode (Ag/AgCl electrode). The results show that the MA self-assembled from the magnetic droplet array under the sum of gravitational surface tension and magnetic potential energies. The ME had good toughness and could easily pierce rabbit skin without being broken or buckling. When the compression force applied on the ME was larger than 2 N, ME could stably record EII, which was a lower value than that measured by Ag/AgCl electrodes. EMG signals collected by ME varied along with the contraction of biceps brachii muscle. ME could record static ECG signals with a larger amplitude and dynamic ECG signals with more distinguishable features in comparison with a Ag/AgCl electrode, therefore, ME is an alternative electrode for bio-signal monitoring in some specific situations.
微针电极（MEs）在监测生理电信号方面越来越受到关注，这些信号包括电极 - 皮肤界面阻抗（EII）、肌电图（EMG）和心电图（ECG）记录。一种磁化诱导自组装方法（MSM）被开发用于制造微针阵列（MA）。将涂覆有Ti/Au膜的MA组装成ME。通过实验测试了ME的断裂和插入特性。测量了ME的生物信号记录性能，并与典型的商用湿电极（Ag/AgCl电极）进行了比较。结果表明，MA是在重力表面张力和磁势能之和的作用下从磁滴阵列自组装而成。ME具有良好的韧性，能够轻松刺穿兔皮而不会断裂或弯曲。当施加在ME上的压缩力大于2 N时，ME能够稳定地记录EII，该值低于用Ag/AgCl电极测量的值。ME采集的EMG信号随着肱二头肌的收缩而变化。与Ag/AgCl电极相比，ME能够记录到幅度更大的静态ECG信号和特征更明显的动态ECG信号，因此，在某些特定情况下，ME是生物信号监测的一种替代电极。
