(A) study of nanoporous platinum electrode for EEG signal quality enhancement

Abstract

The significance of biopotential recording has been increasing in both medical and non-medical fields. Accurate signal acquisition using mini-mally invasive and less cumbersome electrode is one of the key issues in the biopotential measurement. In this study, a new type of electrode, called L2-ePt electrode that utilizes the stable nanoporous platinum sur-face to reduce electrode-skin contact impedance is introduced. To deter-mine the validity of using the L2-ePt electrode in biopotential recording applications, the L2-ePt electrode was compared to commercially availa-ble Ag/AgCl electrode and flat platinum electrode in terms of their elec-trode impedance levels both in solution and on human skin. Electroen-cephalogram signals on the subjects forehead were simultaneously ac-quired by each type of electrode to assess the signal correlation. In addi-tion, steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) responses were meas-ured using commercially available gold-disc electrode, moistened-sponge L2-ePt electrode, and moistened-sponge flat platinum electrode for the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) comparison. In the evaluation of the elec-trode-skin contact impedance and signal correlation, the L2-ePt electrodes performed significantly better than the flat platinum electrodes. Moreover, the paste-less L2-ePt electrode showed similar SNR performance to the commercial gold-disc electrode with paste. Therefore, the proposed L2-ePt electrode can be used even without paste to acquire accurate biosig-nals in applications where wet Ag/AgCl electrode is not suitable.