Effect of Reducing Agents on The Performance of AgNPs and PANI Flexible Conductive Fabrics

Abstract

Cotton fabric with the addition of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and polyaniline (PANI) was developed as a flexible electrode to measure muscle biopotential signals using Electromyography (EMG) in this study. AgNPs are synthesized using two reducing agents, Gum Acacia and Hydrazine Hydrate. The effect of the two different reducing agents will be studied by measuring the electrical conductivity of each sample and also by comparing flexible electrode performance during EMG measurements. The results obtained from this study are that the AgNP electrodes synthesized using the Gum Acacia have very high SNR and conductivity. The absence of an electrolyte gel during EMG measurement using the developed flexible electrode can provide comfort to the user without any risk of skin irritation due to electrolyte gel when the measurement process is carried out for a long duration. The AgNP fabric electrode with Gum Acacia as the reducing agent is expected to be used to replace  commercial electrodes in the future.

Keywords

• conductivity
• flexible electrodes
• gum acacia
• hydrazine hydrate
• reducing agents