Electrical and Computer Engineering, CEMSE, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal 23955-6900, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
School of Medicine, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2UH, United Kingdom.
ACS Nano. 2024 Apr 9;18(14):10074-10087. doi: 10.1021/acsnano.3c12477. Epub 2024 Mar 25.
Recent advances in electrocardiogram (ECG) diagnosis and monitoring have triggered a demand for smart and wearable ECG electrodes and readout systems. Here, we report the development of a fully screen-printed gentle-to-skin wet ECG electrode integrated with a scaled-down printed circuit board (PCB) packaged inside a 3D-printed antenna-on-package (AoP). All three components of the wet ECG electrode (i.e., silver nanowire-based conductive part, electrode gel, and adhesive gel) are screen-printed on a flexible plastic substrate and only require 265 times less metal for the conductive part and 176 times less ECG electrode gel than the standard commercial wet ECG electrodes. In addition, our electrically small AoP achieved a maximum read range of 142 m and offers a 4 times larger wireless communication range than the typical commercial chip antenna. The adult volunteers' study results indicated that our system recorded ECG data that correlated well with data from a commercial ECG system and electrodes. Furthermore, in the context of a 12-lead ECG diagnostic system, the fully printed wet ECG electrodes demonstrated a performance similar to that of commercially available wet ECG electrodes while being gentle on the skin. This was confirmed through a blind review method by two cardiology consultants and one family medicine consultant, validating the consistency of the diagnostic information obtained from both electrodes. In conclusion, these findings highlight the potential of fully screen-printed wet ECG electrodes for both monitoring and diagnostic purposes. These electrodes could serve as potential candidates for clinical practice, and the screen-printing method has the capability to facilitate industrial mass production.
最近，心电图（ECG）诊断和监测的进展引发了对智能和可穿戴式 ECG 电极及读出系统的需求。在这里，我们报告了一种完全丝网印刷的、对皮肤友好的湿式 ECG 电极的开发，该电极集成了一个缩小版的印刷电路板（PCB），封装在一个 3D 打印的天线封装（AoP）内。湿式 ECG 电极的所有三个组件（即基于银纳米线的导电部分、电极凝胶和粘合凝胶）都被丝网印刷在柔性塑料基板上，与标准商业湿式 ECG 电极相比，导电部分所需的金属减少了 265 倍，电极凝胶减少了 176 倍。此外，我们的小型 AoP 实现了 142 m 的最大读取范围，与典型商业芯片天线相比，提供了 4 倍更大的无线通信范围。成人志愿者的研究结果表明，我们的系统记录的 ECG 数据与商业 ECG 系统和电极记录的数据相关性良好。此外，在 12 导联 ECG 诊断系统的背景下，完全印刷的湿式 ECG 电极在对皮肤友好的同时，表现出与市售湿式 ECG 电极相似的性能。这是通过两位心脏病学顾问和一位家庭医学顾问的盲法审查方法得到证实的，验证了从两种电极获得的诊断信息的一致性。总之，这些发现突显了完全丝网印刷的湿式 ECG 电极在监测和诊断方面的潜力。这些电极可能成为临床实践的潜在候选者，并且丝网印刷方法具有促进工业大规模生产的能力。
