Time Evolution of the Skin–Electrode Interface Impedance under Different Skin Treatments

• Published in: Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 21; no. 15; p. 5210
• Main Authors: Murphy, Brendan B., Scheid, Brittany H., Hendricks, Quincy, Apollo, Nicholas V., Litt, Brian, Vitale, Flavia
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 31.07.2021; MDPI
• Subjects: Communication; Electrocardiography; Electrodes; equivalent circuit model; Human subjects; Hydration; Investigations; Noise; Skin; Skin diseases; skin impedance; skin treatment; skin–electrode interface; wearable sensors
• ISSN: 1424-8220; 1424-8220
• DOI: 10.3390/s21155210

A low and stable impedance at the skin–electrode interface is key to high-fidelity acquisition of biosignals, both acutely and in the long term. However, recording quality is highly variable due to the complex nature of human skin. Here, we present an experimental and modeling framework to investigate the interfacial impedance behavior, and describe how skin interventions affect its stability over time. To illustrate this approach, we report experimental measurements on the skin–electrode impedance using pre-gelled, clinical-grade electrodes in healthy human subjects recorded over 24 h following four skin treatments: (i) mechanical abrasion, (ii) chemical exfoliation, (iii) microporation, and (iv) no treatment. In the immediate post-treatment period, mechanical abrasion yields the lowest initial impedance, whereas the other treatments provide modest improvement compared to untreated skin. After 24 h, however, the impedance becomes more uniform across all groups (<20 kΩ at 10 Hz). The impedance data are fitted with an equivalent circuit model of the complete skin–electrode interface, clearly identifying skin-level versus electrode-level contributions to the overall impedance. Using this model, we systematically investigate how time and treatment affect the impedance response, and show that removal of the superficial epidermal layers is essential to achieving a low, long-term stable interface impedance.