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Inkjet‐Printed Flexible Gold Electrode Arrays for Bioelectronic Interfaces
Author(s) -
Khan Yasser,
Pavinatto Felippe J.,
Lin Monica C.,
Liao Amy,
Swisher Sarah L.,
Mann Kaylee,
Subramanian Vivek,
Maharbiz Michel M.,
Arias Ana C.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
advanced functional materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.069
H-Index - 322
eISSN - 1616-3028
pISSN - 1616-301X
DOI - 10.1002/adfm.201503316
Subject(s) - materials science , electrode , fabrication , sintering , nanotechnology , optoelectronics , microfabrication , electrode array , electrical impedance , biomedical engineering , composite material , electrical engineering , medicine , chemistry , alternative medicine , pathology , engineering
Bioelectronic interfaces require electrodes that are mechanically flexible and chemically inert. Flexibility allows pristine electrode contact to skin and tissue, and chemical inertness prevents electrodes from reacting with biological fluids and living tissues. Therefore, flexible gold electrodes are ideal for bioimpedance and biopotential measurements such as bioimpedance tomography, electrocardiography (ECG), electroencephalography (EEG), and electromyography (EMG). However, a manufacturing process to fabricate gold electrode arrays on plastic substrates is still elusive. In this work, a fabrication and low‐temperature sintering (≈200 °C) technique is demonstrated to fabricate gold electrodes. At low‐temperature sintering conditions, lines of different widths demonstrate different sintering speeds. Therefore, the sintering condition is targeted toward the widest feature in the design layout. Manufactured electrodes show minimum feature size of 62 μm and conductivity values of 5 × 10 6 S m −1 . Utilizing the versatility of printing and plastic electronic processes, electrode arrays consisting of 31 electrodes with electrode‐to‐electrode spacing ranging from 2 to 7 mm are fabricated and used for impedance mapping of conformal surfaces at 15 kHz. Overall, the fabrication process of an inkjet‐printed gold electrode array that is electrically reproducible, mechanically robust, and promising for bioimpedance and biopotential measurements is demonstrated.