On the Cause and Control of Residual Voltage Generated by Electrical Stimulation of Neural Tissue

Functional electrical stimulation of neural tissue is traditionally performed with symmetric cathodic-first biphasic pulses of current through an electrode/electrolyte interface. When the interface is modeled by a series R-C circuit, as is sometimes done for stimulator circuit design, the appearance of a net residual voltage across the electrode cannot be explained. Residual voltage can cause polarization of the electrode and pose a problem for safe electrical stimulation. This paper aims to (1) theoretically explain one reason for the residual voltage, which is the inclusion of the Faradaic impedance (2) suggest a simple dynamic feedback mechanism to eliminate residual voltage.