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Measuring Biopotentials

▪ A sensor is a device that converts a quantity from the measured

object into an electrical signal.

▪ Biomedical transducers/sensors are transducers with specific

uses in biomedical applications: physiological measurement,
patient monitoring, health care.

▪ Measurement quantities: physical and chemical quantities that

reflect the physiological functions in a living body.

▪ Examples:
• blood composition - determined from a sample extracted from
the body
• real-time and continuous measurements - transducer is
attached to the body 2
 Biopotentials
▪ Bioelectrical potentials: bioelectrical potentials occur
at the cell membrane due to difference in
• ions concentration(mostly Na +, K + and Cl-) in intracellular
fluid and in the extracellullar space

▪ Potential difference at the cellular membrane may be in the

range within 5mV and 100mV

▪ This potential difference is called the resting potential

• resting potential inside the cell is negative comparing to
the environment
• resting potential of nerve and muscle cells is typically -
70mV to -85mV

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 Biopotentials
▪ Action potentials:
When the cell membrane is stimulated, there is a sudden change
in membrane conductance, first
for sodium ions (cell depolarization), and
then to potassium ions (repolarization)

▪ Negative potential inside the cell reduces, such that short-term

potential may become positive

▪ Such a potential difference is called the action potential

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 Biopotentials
▪ How to access the cell and measure bioelectrical potentials?
1) Individual cells
• thickness of the semi-permeable membrane approx.
10nm
• measurement of in vivo or in vitro

2) Groups of cells - tissue or organ

• access to tissue or organ - a non-invasive or invasive
measurements
• mutual influence of different tissues /organs
(potentials, impedance)

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 Electrodes

▪ Electrode is an interface
• to connect the measurement devices and measure
bioelectrical potential

▪ The electrode is also a transducer, converting the body’s ionic

current into electronic current.

▪ Functions via:
• exchange charge carriers :
– in electrical circuits, electrons are charge carriers
– in the body, ions are charge carriers
• connects to the surface of the body (skin, mucous membranes)
or on/in the organ inside the body
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 Electrodes
▪ We strive to measure most bioelectric potentials noninvasively,
e.g. from the surface of the body, by placing electrodes on the skin

▪ Electrical characteristics of different tissues

• specific conductivity (specific resistance)
• specific dielectric constant

▪ Characteristics of biological tissue are:

• nonlinearity (dependence on frequency and current density),
• inhomogenity (unequal material properties of the body)
• anisotropy (different properties in different dirrections,
typically along the fiber-cells)
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 Electrodes
▪ Using a model of the interface for better understanding
of the interface electrode-tissue

▪ Passive electrical characteristics of the skin-electrode interface is

expressed by ideal electric components.
• Resistance
• Capacitance

▪ This model can be used for measurement electrodes in limited

frequency range

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Equivalent Circuit of the Skin-Electrode

Electrode – skin intarface and its simplified electrical circuit

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Equivalent Circuit of the Skin-Electrode

RP =  d
A μ - charge mobility

 =
1 q - charge
qn
n - number of electrons in volume
A
CP =  unit
d

Rp - resistance between the electrode and the well-conductive layer

of tissue (virtual electrode)
d – skin thickness
A - electrode surface
ρ - specific resistance
Cp - capacity between the electrode and virtual electrode
ε - dielectric constant of the skin 1
0
Equivalent Circuit of the Skin-Gel-Electrode

Ehe

Electrode Cd Rd

Sweat glands
Gel Rs and ducts

Ese EP

Stratum Corneum
Epidermis Ce Re CP RP

Dermis and
subcutaneous layer
Ru

Skin impedance for 1cm2 patch:

200kΩ @1Hz
200 Ω @ 1MHz
Nonlinearity of the Electrode Interface

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 Electrode – Electrolyte Interface

▪ The electrode consists of metallic atoms C.

▪ The electrolyte is an aqueous solution containing cations of the
electrode metal C + and anions A-.
 Electrode – Electrolyte Interface

Electrode Electrolyte (neutral charge)

Current flow
C C+, A- in solution

C C+
e- C
A- C+
e-
A-
C+ : Cation
A- : Anion
e- : electron
Fairly common electrode materials: Pt, Carbon, …, Au, Ag,…
Electrode metal is use in conjunction with salt, e.g. Ag-AgCl, Pt-
Pt black, or polymer coats (e.g. Nafion, to improve selectivity)
 Electrode – Electrolyte Interface
General Ionic Equations
n+ −
a) C C + ne
m− −
b) A  A + me
a) If electrode has same material as cation, then this material
gets oxidized and enters the electrolyte as a cation and electrons
remain at the electrode and flow in the external circuit.

b) If anion can be oxidized at the electrode to form a neutral

atom, one or two electrons are given to the electrode.
The dominating reaction can be inferred from the following :

Current flow from electrode to electrolyte : Oxidation (Loss of e-)

Current flow from electrolyte to electrode : Reduction (Gain of e-)
 Metal-Electrolyte Potential

Potential double-layer at the interface metal-electrolyte 16

 Half Cell Potential
▪ A characteristic potential difference established by the electrode
and its surrounding electrolyte which depends on the metal,
concentration of ions in solution and temperature (and some
second order factors) .

▪ Half cell potential cannot be measured without a second electrode.

▪ The half cell potential of the standard hydrogen electrode has been
arbitrarily set to zero. Other half cell potentials are expressed as a potential
difference with this electrode.

Reason for Half Cell Potential : Charge Separation at Interface

• Oxidation or reduction reactions at the electrode-electrolyte interface lead to
a double-charge layer, similar to that which exists along electrically active
biological cell membranes.
 Measuring Half Cell Potential

Note: Electrode material is metal + salt or polymer selective membrane

 Half Cell Potential
▪ Half-cell potential is determined by:
• Metal involved
• Concentration of ions in solution
• Temperature

Oxidation Reduction
Some Half Cell Potential

Standard Hydrogen electrode

Note: Ag-AgCl has low

junction potential & it is
also very stable -> hence
used in ECG electrodes!
 Nernst Equation
▪ When two aqueous ionic solutions of different concentration are
separated by an ion-selective semi-permeable membrane, an
electric potential exists across the membrane.
a1 and a2 are the
activities of the
ions on each side of
the membrane.
▪ For the general oxidation-reduction reaction
A + B  C + D + ne−
The Nernst equation for half cell potential is Note: interested in
ionic activity at the
RT  aC aD 
 
E=E +
0
ln     electrode
(but note temp
nF  a A aB  dependence)

where E0 : Standard Half Cell Potential E : Half Cell Potential

a : Ionic Activity (generally same as concentration)
n : Number of valence electrons involved
 Metal-electrolyte potential

▪ If you plunge a metal in a solution of its salt, the half cell

potential E0M appears, also the voltage dependent on the
concentration of metal ions in solution:

= E0M1 − ln c M 1
RT
E0.5M
nF

▪ If there is some other metal also immersed in a solution

of its own ions, its potential will be

E0.5M = E0M 2 − ln c M 2
RT
nF
2
2
 Polarization Voltage
▪ If these two solutions are separated with semi-permeable
membrane to allow passage of ions, and to avoid the original
combination of solutions, the potential difference between the
solutions can be measured. Eg.

▪ It means each electrode that comes in contact with the electrolyte

will have the potential.
• This potential is undesirable in the measurement of biological
voltage because when using high gain dc amplifier, it causes
saturation of the amplifier.
• To avoid saturation, amplifier with less gain in the input is used
and the next stages of amplification are separated with capacitor.
 Polarization
▪ If there is a current between the electrode and electrolyte, the
observed half cell potential is often altered due to polarization.

Overpotential
Difference between observed
and zero-current half cell
potentials

Activation
Resistance Concentration
The activation energy
Current changes resistance Changes in distribution
barrier depends on the
of electrolyte and thus, of ions at the electrode-
direction of current and
a voltage drop results. electrolyte interface
determines kinetics

V p = VR + VC + VA
Note: Polarization and impedance of the electrode are two of the most
important electrode properties to consider.
 Polarizable and Non-Polarizable Electrodes
Perfectly Polarizable Electrodes
▪ These are electrodes in which no actual charge crosses the
electrode-electrolyte interface when a current is applied.
▪ The current across the interface is a displacement current and
the electrode behaves like a capacitor. (Displacement current
flows between the plates of a capacitor due to electric field)
▪ Example: Ag/AgCl Electrode
Perfectly Non-Polarizable Electrode
▪ These are electrodes where current passes freely across the
electrode-electrolyte interface, requiring no energy to make the
transition. These electrodes see no overpotentials.
▪ Example: Platinum electrode

Example: Ag-AgCl is used in recording while Pt is use in stimulation

 Ag/AgCl Electrode

Relevant ionic equations

Ag  Ag + + e −
Ag + + Cl −  AgCl 
Cl2
Governing Nernst Equation
-
Ag+Cl
RT  K s  Solubility
E=E 0
Ag + ln   product of
nF  aCl −  AgCl

Fabrication of Ag/AgCl electrodes

1. Electrolytic deposition of AgCl
2. Sintering process forming pellet electrodes
Equivalent Circuit (Cell Potential Introduced)

Cd: capacitance of electrode-eletrolyte interface

Rd : resistance of electrode-eletrolyte interface
Rs : resistance of electrode lead wire
Ecell: cell potential for electrode

Corner frequency “The boundary at which

energy flowing through
the begins to be
attenuated rather than
passing through”

Frequency Response
 Motion Artifact
▪ If a pair of electrodes is in an electrolyte and one moves with
respect to the other, a potential difference appears across the
electrodes known as the motion artifact.
▪ This is a source of noise and interference in biopotential
measurements

Reason
▪ When the electrode moves with respect to the electrolyte, the
distribution of the double layer of charge on polarizable
electrode interface changes.
▪ This changes the half cell potential temporarily.

Motion artifact is minimal for non-polarizable electrodes

 Motion Artifact
▪ Motion artifacts are usually of low frequency and can be
filtered out when measuring biosignals of high frequency
components such as EMG, axon action potential etc.

▪ Good adhesive connection to the skin, skin cleaning and the

use of floating electrode can help reduce motion artifacts.
NOISE
• Several sources
•60Hz power lines – shielding, filtering
•Other biopotentials – filtering
•Motion artifacts – relaxed subject
•Electrode noise – high quality electrodes, good
contacts
•Circuit noise – good design, good components
•Common mode noise – differential design, high
CMRR
 Dry Electrodes

▪ Used to avoid the appearance of polarization voltage.

▪ The problem is in large input impedance, which makes them

susceptible to interference.

▪ Therefore, some electrodes incorporate an amplifier designed

to reduce the high input resistance to a small value and thus
reduce the impact of interference.
Body Surface Recording Electrodes
Electrode metal

Electrolyte

1. Metal Plate Electrodes

(historic)
2. Suction Electrodes
(historic interest)
3. Floating Electrodes
4. Flexible Electrodes
 Commonly Used Biopotential Electrodes
Metal plate electrodes
 Large surface: Ancient,
therefore still used, ECG
 Metal disk with stainless steel;
platinum or gold coated
 EMG, EEG
 smaller diameters
 motion artifacts
 Disposable foam-pad: Cheap!
(a) Metal-plate electrode used for
application to limbs.
(b) Metal-disk electrode applied with
surgical tape.
(c)Disposable foam-pad electrodes,
often used with ECG
Commonly Used Biopotential Electrodes
Suction electrodes
- No straps or adhesives required
- precordial (chest) ECG
- can only be used for short periods

Floating electrodes
- metal disk is recessed
- swimming in the electrolyte gel
- not in contact with the skin
- reduces motion artifact
Suction Electrode
Commonly Used Biopotential Electrodes

Metal disk
Insulating
package

Double-sided
Adhesive-tape
ring Electrolyte gel
in recess

(a) (b)

Snap coated with Ag-AgCl External snap

Gel-coated sponge
Plastic cup Plastic disk

Tack Dead cellular material

Foam pad (c)
Capillary loops Germinating layer

Floating Electrodes
 Surface EEG Electrodes

▪ EEG electrodes (passive, active)

▪ Conductive paste and gel

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EEG Recording

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 Commonly Used Biopotential Electrodes
Flexible electrodes
- Body contours are often
irregular
- Regularly shaped rigid
electrodes
-Special case : infants
- Material :
- Polymer or nylon with
silver
- Carbon filled silicon
rubber (Mylar film)

(a) Carbon-filled silicone rubber

electrode.
(b) Flexible thin-film neonatal
electrode.
(c) Cross-sectional view of the thin-
film electrode in (b).
 Internal Electrodes
▪ Needle and wire electrodes for
percutaneous measurement of
biopotentials

(a) Insulated needle electrode.

(b) Coaxial needle electrode.
(c) Bipolar coaxial electrode.
(d) Fine-wire electrode connected
to hypodermic needle, before
being inserted.
(e) (f)Cross-sectional view of skin
and muscle, showing coiled and
fine-wire electrode in place.
 Fetal ECG Electrodes

Electrodes for detecting fetal electrocardiogram during labor, by means

of intracutaneous needles (a) Suction electrode. (b) Cross-sectional view of
suction electrode in place, showing penetration of probe through epidermis.
(c) Helical electrode, which is attached to fetal skin by corkscrew type
action.
 EMG Electrodes

▪ Surface

▪ Subcutaneous

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EMG Recording

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 Surface Electrodes - More Examples

• EOG electrodes:

• Electrodes for
electrostimulation

• ova

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 Electrodes: Neural Activity

• Electrical activity on the cortical • Summation of pre- and postsynaptic

surface resulting from volume activity from a population of neurons
conduction of coherent collective neural around the electrode tip.
activity throughout cortex. • Recorded via microelectrodes or lower
impedance electrodes.
• Recorded via surface (disk) electrodes. • Amplitude as high as 1 mV and
frequency content up to 200 Hz.
Leuthhardt et al Mollazadeh et al.
 Electrodes: Scalp EEG Recording

State of the art EEG recording

• 32-256 channels
• Gel contact electrodes
• Tethered to acquisition box
• Off-line analysis

BioSemi Active2
www.biosemi.com
 Wearable, High-Density EEG and ECG
▪ Non-contact electrode
• No skin/subject preparation
• Insulated, embeddable in elastic
fabric

▪ Fully integrated
• On board power, signal processing,
wireless transceiver

▪ Applications
• Brain computer interface
• Mobile, health monitoring
 Wearable, High-Density EEG and ECG
▪ Non-contact sensor fabricated on a printed circuit board substrate

Advantages:
• Robust circuit
• Inexpensive production
• Safe, no sharp edges or fingers, can be made flexible
• Very low power (<100µW/sensor)
• Strong immunity to external noise

Chi and Cauwenberghs, 2010

 Electrode Arrays
Insulated leads
Ag/AgCl electrodes Contacts
Contacts
Ag/AgCl electrodes

Insulated leads Base

(a)
Base
(b)
Exposed tip Tines

Examples of microfabricated electrode arrays.

(a) One-dimensional plunge electrode array,
(b) Two-dimensional array, and
Base (c) Three-dimensional array

(c)
 Microelectrodes
Why
Measure potential difference across cell membrane Intracellular
Extracellular
Requirements
 Small enough to be placed into cell
 Strong enough to penetrate cell membrane
 Typical tip diameter: 0.05 – 10 microns

Types
 Solid metal
 Supported metal (metal contained within/outside glass needle)
 Glass micropipette
Metal Microelectrodes
C

Microns!

R
Extracellular recording – typically in brain where you
are interested in recording the firing of neurons
(spikes).

Use metal electrode+insulation -> goes to high

impedance amplifier…negative capacitance amplifier!
Metal Supported Microelectrodes

(a) Metal inside glass (b) Glass inside metal

 Glass Micropipette

heat
pull

A glass micropipette
electrode filled with an
electrolytic solution
(a) Section of fine-bore glass
capillary.
(b) Capillary narrowed
through heating and
Fill with
stretching.
intracellular fluid
or 3M KCl (c) Final structure of glass-
pipette microelectrode.

• Intracellular recording – typically for recording from cells,

such as cardiac myocyte
• Need high impedance amplifier
 Microelectrodes
• Cell attached recording:
– Pipette touching the
membrane and forming a
high-ohmic junction (~ 1GΩ)

• Whole cell recording:

– by suction through a pipette
the membrane breaks
– solution in the pipette and
inside of the cells become
uniform

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 Microelectrodes

Extracellular recording

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 Microelectrodes
Action potentials recorded extracellularly

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 Stimulating Electrodes
Features
▪ Cannot be modeled as a series resistance and
capacitance (there is no single useful model)
▪ The body/electrode has a highly nonlinear response to
stimulation
▪ Large currents can cause
• cavitation
• cell damage
• heating
Examples
• Platinum electrodes for
Types of stimulating electrodes neural stimulation
1. Pacing
2. Ablation • Steel electrodes for
pacemakers and
3. Defibrillation defibrillators
 Subcutaneous Electrodes
Intraocular Stimulation Electrodes
Reference : Lutz Hesse, Thomas Schanze, Marcus Wilms and Marcus Eger, “Implantation of retina stimulation
electrodes and recording of electrical stimulation responses in the visual cortex of the cat”, Graefe’s Arch Clin Exp
Ophthalmol (2000) 238:840–845
 Subcutaneous Electrodes

▪ Example of subcutaneous electrodes

used for deep brain stimulation

▪ Example of electrode implantation

for deep brain stimulation

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Microelectronic Technology for Microelectrodes
Bonding pads

SiO2 insulated Insulated

Au probes lead vias
Exposed
electrodes

Silicon probe

Si substrate
Exposed tips
(a) Beam-lead multiple electrode . (b) Multielectrode silicon probe

Miniature
insulating
Hole Channels Silicon chip
chamber
Lead via

Silicon probe
Contact
Electrode metal film
(c) Multiple-chamber electrode (d)
Peripheral-nerve electrode

Different types of microelectrodes fabricated using

microfabrication/MEMS technology
Michigan Probes for Neural Recordings
Neural Recording Microelectrodes

Reference :
http://www.acreo.se/acreo-rd/IMAGES/PUBLICATIONS/PROCEEDINGS/ABSTRACT-
KINDLUNDH.PDF
Multi-electrode Neural Recording

Reference :
http://www.cyberkineticsinc.com/technology.htm

Reference :
http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/neuronal-networks/mmep.htm
 Practical Hints in Using Electrodes

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▪ Ensure that all parts of a metal electrode that will touch the
electrolyte are made of the same metal.

• Dissimilar metals have different half-cell potentials making an

electrically unstable, noisy junction.
• If the lead wire is a different metal, be sure that it is well
insulated.
• Do not let a solder junction touch the electrolyte. If the junction
must touch the electrolyte, fabricate the junction by welding or
mechanical clamping or crimping.

▪ For differential measurements, use the same material for each

electrode.
• If the half-cell potentials are nearly equal, they will cancel and
minimize the saturation effects of high-gain, dc coupled
amplifiers.
 Practical Hints in Using Electrodes

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▪ Electrodes attached to the skin frequently fall off.
• Use very flexible lead wires arranged in a manner to minimize
the force exerted on the electrode.
• Tape the flexible wire to the skin a short distance from the
electrode, making this a stress-relief point.

▪ A common failure point in the site at which the lead wire is

attached to the electrode.

• Repeated flexing can break the wire inside its insulation.

• Prove strain relief by creating a gradual mechanical transition
between the wire and the electrode.
• Use a tapered region of insulation that gradually increases in
diameter from that of the wire towards that of the electrode as
one gets closer and closer to the electrode.
 Practical Hints in Using Electrodes

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▪ Match the lead-wire insulation to the specific application.

• If the lead wires and their junctions to the electrode are soaked
in extracellular fluid or a cleaning solution for long periods of
time, water and other solvents can penetrate the polymeric
coating and reduce the effective resistance, making the lead
wirebecome part of the electrode.
• Such an electrode captures other signals introducing unwanted
noise.

▪ Match your amplifier design to the signal source.

• Be sure that your amplifier circuit has an input impedance that
is much greater than the source impedance of the electrodes.
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