ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVITY OF

ELECTRODE JELLIES AND CREAMS

 Why are Jellies & Creams Required?

• Ensure a good electrical contact between electrode

& the patient’s skin.

• Facilitate transfer of charge at electrode-electrolyte

interface between the 2 kinds of charge carriers –
electrons in electrode & ions in the gel.

• Facilitate in decreasing the impedance of human

skin.
 Reason of Skin Impedance

• The outer horny layer of skin is responsible for skin

contact impedance.

• For this reason, skin preparation is essential to obtain

accurate results.

• Before the application of gel, the skin is cleaned with

an ether-meth mixture.
 Constituents of Jellies & Creams
• Comprise of ionic salts (NaCl & KCl) to ensure bio-
compatibility with Na+, K+, Cl- ions present in skin.

• Have a particular ion concentration in tone with the

physiological ion concentration so that harmful
diffusion of ions doesn’t occur b/w the jelly & the
body.

• Do not contain soap or phenol which causes a

marked irritation of the skin.
Electrical Conductivity of Jellies & Creams

• Na+, K+, Cl- ions increase electrical conductivity of

jellies & creams by decreasing the skin impedance.

• These ions diffuse into the skin due to the existing

concentration gradient.

• Jellies & creams rapidly fill up the troughs on

electrode & skin surface, ensuring max. contact area.
 Contact Resistance of Skin
• Low conc. NaCl electrolyte: 0.5%
NaCl.

• High conc. NaCl electrolyte: 5-

10% NaCl.

• Stabilization of resistance occurs

around 40 min.

• Pre-rubbing the skin lowers initial

resistance value.

• Time constant of contact

resistance is inversely
proportional to conc. of gel.
 Measurement of Electrical Conductivity of
Jellies & Creams

• Electrical conductivity is measured by means of

Schering a.c. bridge circuit.

• Jelly/cream is placed in a conductivity cell of known

dimensions & cell impedance is measured at 10 Hz.

• Resistive component of cell is calculated & then,

conductivity is found.
 Schering Bridge

• R2 & C2 – fixed values.

• R1 & C1 – variable
values.

• R3 = C1.R2/C2

• C3 = R1.C2/R2
Range of Resistance of Jellies & Creams

• Depends on composition & concentration of jellies &

creams and on the thickness of gel layer.

• Resistivity is of the order of 5-500 ohm-cm & a

thickness of around 0.3 cm.

• Resistance lies in the range of 0.5-50 ohms.

 Aggressive Gels
• High concentration of ionic salts.

• More diffusion of ions into the skin resulting in rapid

decrease in contact resistance.

• Should not be used for long term monitoring

applications as tissues can’t tolerate long exposure to
salt concentrations leading to skin irritation pbms.

• Used in short-term biosignal monitoring(stress-

testing) where instant high quality traces are required.
 Electrode Gel Pads
• Jellies & creams are
impregnated into electrode
gel pads.

• These adhere to the body

smoothly, thereby, forming
a conductive layer.

• They act as a contact b/w

human body & the
electrode.
Jellies & Creams In ECG
Jellies & Creams In EEG
Jellies & Creams In Ultrasound
Jellies & Creams in Diathermy