Our Wheat Starch-Based Electrodes
Origin
The novel wheat starch-based electrode was developed in the Seshadri Lab at Lehigh University. Its creation was partly inspired by Kazakhstan's agricultural surplus from excess wheat crop yields in 2024 and 2025, making it a sustainable engineering solution that addresses both agricultural and medical challenges simultaneously.
The electrode's key innovation is its conductive layer, which is made from a wheat starch-based hydrogel. Before deployment, the maximum impedance of the electrodes is characterized as a function of NaCl concentration to ensure optimal performance in a clinical setting.
Materials
Performance
Compared to standard 3M Red Dot electrodes, which measure impedance in the several kilohms range, the novel electrodes achieve only several ohms — a dramatic improvement that enables significantly cleaner EMG signal capture. The electrodes are adhered to the exterior of the neck to collect neuromuscular EMG signals during swallowing. They snap-connect to a Cometa 4-channel PicoBlue Sensor, which relays data wirelessly to an iPad Mini for real-time monitoring and analysis.
Address
Iacocca Hall, 111 Research Drive, D-316, Bethlehem, PA, USA, 18015