Electroencephalography is valued in brain research for its high temporal resolution and user-friendly nature. However, limitations in spatial resolution and susceptibility to biological artifacts restrict its broader application. The surface Laplacian potential obtained through tri-polar concentric ring electrodes offers a solution by mitigating biological artifact interference and enhancing spatial resolution while preserving essential information. In this study, an active tri-polar concentric ring electrode based on conductive hydrogel and a 3-lead surface Laplacian potential monitoring system designed for use with the electrode were proposed. The part of the electrode that came into contact with the human body was the hydrogel with high electrical conductivity. The contact surface curvature was designed based on the real forehead curvature of 22 subjects, resulting in a normalized electrode-skin contact impedance of 30.95±16.76KΩ*cm2 at 10 Hz, which was lower than commercial disposable wet electrodes and remained stable over a 10-hour period of long-term wear. And the electrode still exhibited excellent performance after being left for 20 days. Additionally, the internal noise of the system was about 1.9μV, which was comparable to that of the FDA-approved equipment. The signal analysis results demonstrated that the surface Laplacian potential collected by the proposed electrode and system had better signal-to-noise ratio and spatial resolution, and had a good suppression effect on biological artifacts.
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