A highly stable electrode with low electrode-skin impedance for wearable brain-computer interface

Abstract

To date, brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) have proved to play a key role in many medical applications, for example, the rehabilitation of stroke patients. For post-stroke rehabilitation, the BCIs require the EEG electrodes to precisely translate the brain signals of patients into intended movements of the paralyzed limb for months. However, the gold standard silver/silver-chloride electrodes cannot satisfy the requirements for long-term stability and preparation-free recording capability in wearable EEG devices, thus limiting the versatility of EEG in wearable BCI applications over time outside the rehabilitation center. Here, we design a long-term stable and low electrode-skin interfacial impedance conductive polymer-hydrogel EEG electrode that maintains a lower impedance value than gel-based electrodes for 29 days. With this technology, EEG-based long-term and wearable BCIs could be realized in the near future. To demonstrate this, our designed electrode is applied for a wireless single-channel EEG device that detects changes in alpha rhythms in eye-open/eye-close conditions. In addition, we validate that the designed electrodes could capture oscillatory rhythms in motor imagery protocols as well as low-frequency time-locked event-related potentials from healthy subjects, with similar or better performance than gel-based electrodes. Finally, we demonstrate the use of the designed electrode in online BCI-based functional electrical stimulation, which could be used for post-stroke rehabilitation.

Keywords: Brain-computer interface; Conductive polymer; Hydrogel; Long-term stable EEG electrode; Wearable.