Evaluation of graphene electrode in capturing the changes of muscle activity during flexion and extension

Abstract

This study was performed to determine and evaluate the performance of the graphene-based electromyogram sensor as an alternative to silver/silver chloride (Ag/AgCl) electrode for data acquisition. The main advantage of using graphene electrode is that it is more comfortable for sensitive skin, reusable and convenient. An experiment to capture the changes of biceps brachii and triceps brachii during flexion and extension was conducted to test the performance of graphene electrode over Ag/AgCl electrode. The test measurement was carried out using a portable surface electromyography (sEMG). MATLAB software was used to process the acquired signals and analysed its signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of both electrodes. In addition, SPSS software was used to determine the significant different of both electrodes and to measure the agreement level of both acquired data by using Bland Altman (BA) analysis plot. At 1kg load, graphene electrode’s SNR = 27.081 dB from biceps brachii, SNR = 23.709 dB from triceps brachii. Meanwhile, Ag/AgCl electrode get SNR = 24.932 dB from biceps brachii, SNR = 24.348 dB from triceps brachii. Besides that, it shows agreement of 100 % between both electrode’s performance when using BA analysis. This shows that both electrodes are statistically comparable in terms of SNR, and the graphene electrode are able to perceive 100 % of Ag/AgCl electrode to the standard reading of EMG. The solution presented in this study could be a key factor for continuous innovation to increase user comfort and save earth from electrode waste.