Investigations of Flexible Ag/AgCl Nanocomposite Polymer Electrodes for Suitability in Tissue Electrical Impedance Scanning (EIS)

Abstract

We present the design, fabrication, and experimental results for a micro-patterned flexible conductive nanocomposite polymer (C-NCP) electrode array for electrical impedance scanning (EIS). EIS has been previously suggested as a potential alternative/supplemental technique to established techniques such as mammography for breast cancer screening, but suffers from issues such as poor electrode mechanical skin contact and low spatial resolution which has limited EIS performance. We demonstrate a potential alternative to solve these problems through a completely new type of EIS electrode array: a micropatternable elastomeric electrode array realized through novel microfabrication methods of new nanomaterials. The highly conformable Ag/AgCl electrode array is fabricated using a soft lithography microfabrication process. The fabricated electrodes possess an average resistivity of 1.75 × 10-3 • m +/−14.3% at a 65 wt-% of silver nanoparticles. We employ our highly flexible Ag/AgCl prototype electrode arrays for anomaly detection tests on an agar tissue phantom. The results are presented in Cole-Cole plots for simple comparison between regular phantom tissue and phantom tissue with introduced anomalies, and for determination of the most useful frequencies for electrode excitation. These initial results show promise for use of highly flexible, conformable polymer electrode arrays in EIS.

A rapid green synthesis of Ag/AgCl-NC photocatalyst for environmental applications

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