The material is made of what the researchers describe as a non-irritant mixture of silicone rubber and conductive silver particles.
The mechanism that allow grasshoppers to walk even on vertical surfaces was inspiration for the device’s surface structure, which enables the electrode surface to adhere to the skin. The idea behind this is that users will barely notice it, while signals from the heart to the brain should record in higher quality due to maximised contact surface between skin and electrode.
Two of the study’s authors, Séverine Chardonnens and Simon Bachmann, want to turn this into a marketable product as early as this year.
were keen to see the idea to market and after staring their own company, were accepted on to the Venture Kick and CTI funding programmes.
The duo are said to have made a good deal of seed capital through start-up competitions.
Having developed a prototype electrode and the official founding of IDUN Technologies as an ETH spin-off in November 2017, Chardonnens and Bachmann are considering which application to focus upon.
Bachmann said: “Commercialisation is worthwhile in applications where the new electrodes offer the biggest advantages over existing models. We see potential in the long-term monitoring of patients, in sports performance monitoring and in the EEG market.”
Once strategic orientation has been settled, the focus will turn to industrialisation and the acquisition of partners and customers.
Chardonn added: “If everything goes as planned, we will be able to sell the first electrodes as early as this year.”
