Washable and flexible screen printed graphene electrode on textiles for wearable healthcare monitoring

Electrocardiogram (ECG) is an essential route to monitor and prevent cardiovascular related disease. Conventional silver/silver chloride (Ag/AgCl) electrodes are not able to be used for long-term monitoring due to the drying of gel and skin irritation. Graphene has been investigated as a promising material for wearable health-monitoring electronics. Here, a graphene-coated textile electrode was developed for ECG monitoring. The graphene electrode was prepared by screen printing graphene ink on a pre-modified textile substrate. The electrical resistance of the graphene textile electrode can be controlled by increasing the printing passes. The ECG signals obtained by the graphene textile electrode showed comparable performance to the conventional Ag/AgCl electrode. The graphene textile electrode shows satisfactory washability, high flexibility and good tortuosity. The performance of the ECG signal shows negligible change over nine washing cycles and 2000 bending cycles. Overall, the screen-printed graphene textile electrode in this work presents an inexpensive fabrication platform solution for long-term healthcare monitoring in wearable electronics. (paper)