Exploring possibilities of ECG electrodes for bio-monitoring smartwear with Cu sputtered fabrics

This article deals with a way of developing E-textiles using sputtering method and their possibilities as ECG electrodes for a bio-monitoring smartwear. As the market of smartwear is growing, researches toward E-textiles become more important. Among various ways of providing conductivity on textiles, we selected sputtering technology. Through the sputtering, we developed E-textiles deposited with thin Cu layer on the surface of the fabrics with thickness of about 2 micrometer. Then we measured the electrical resistances, examined their performances as ECG(electrocardiogram) electrodes and compared ECG signal measured with general AgCl electrodes. In result, ECG signals from Cu sputtered electrodes showed big potentials as textile-based electrodes by showing little difference in its signals compared with commonly used AgCl electrodes.