Stimulation Electrodes for Pacemaker Applications

People suffering from certain types of arrhythmia
may benefit from the implantation of a cardiac
pacemaker. The electrical stimulation pulses are
transferred from the pacemaker to the heart via an
electrode which is implanted into the cardiac
tissue. To design functional pacemaker electrodes it
is essential to understand and control the charge
transferring processes on the electrode/tissue
interface. Bioelectrodes which operates outside its
inherent physical limits may degrade by
electrochemically driven processes (corrosion) or
produce chemical byproducts which may be harmful to
the patient. As the electrode size is reduced to
meet market demand the design strategies for high
performance stimulation and sensing bioelectrodes
needs to be revisited and the electrode/tissue
interface must be characterized to ensure safe and
optimal electrode performance during its operational
lifespan.

In this thesis various electrochemical and surface
analytical techniques were used to investigate the
performance of different electrode materials and
surface textures.

Autorentext
Anna Norlin Weissenrieder holds a Ph. D. in Materials Science and a M.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm. She has several years experience from medical device and battery industry. Her expertize is in electrostimulation, materials characterization, corrosion, and biocompatibility.

Klappentext
People suffering from certain types of arrhythmia may benefit from the implantation of a cardiac pacemaker. The electrical stimulation pulses are transferred from the pacemaker to the heart via an electrode which is implanted into the cardiac tissue. To design functional pacemaker electrodes it is essential to understand and control the charge transferring processes on the electrode/tissue interface. Bioelectrodes which operates outside its inherent physical limits may degrade by electrochemically driven processes (corrosion) or produce chemical byproducts which may be harmful to the patient. As the electrode size is reduced to meet market demand the design strategies for high performance stimulation and sensing bioelectrodes needs to be revisited and the electrode/tissue interface must be characterized to ensure safe and optimal electrode performance during its operational lifespan. In this thesis various electrochemical and surface analytical techniques were used to investigate the performance of different electrode materials and surface textures.