Does a coupling capacitor enhance the charge balance during neural stimulation? An empirical study
Open accessAbstract
Due to their DC-blocking characteristic, coupling capacitors are widely used to prevent potentially harmful charge buildup at the electrode-tissue interface. Although the capacitors can be an effective safety measure, it often seems overlooked that coupling capacitors actually introduce an offset voltage over the electrode-tissue interface as well. This work investigates this offset voltage both analytically and experimentally. The calculations as well as the experiments using bipolar-driven platinum electrodes in a saline solution confirm that coupling capacitors introduce an offset, while they barely contribute to the passive charge balancing. In particular cases, this offset is shown to reach potentially dangerous voltage levels that could induce irreversible electrochemical reactions. This work therefore suggests that when the use of coupling capacitors is required, the offset voltage should be analyzed for all operating conditions to ensure it remains within safe boundaries.
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Blocking capacitors do not offer the protection the community thought they did; they introduce a voltage offset across the electrode-tissue interface, which is often neglected and needs to be properly characterised to ensure safe operation.
“Complete elimination of blocking capacitors could be an option, as they anyway do not offer the protection the community thought they did–they introduce a voltage offset across the electrode-tissue interface, which is often neglected and needs to be properly characterised to ensure safe operation (van Dongen and Serdijn 2016).”
From Realizing flexible bioelectronic medicines for accessing the peripheral nerves – technology considerations (2018) · cites this paper as van Dongen and Serdijn 2016
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- Authors
- van Dongen, M. N., & Serdijn, W. A.
- Affiliations
- Delft University of Technology (NL)
- ORCID
- Serdijn, Wouter A.
- Venue
- Medical & Biological Engineering & Computing
- Published
- 2015-05-29
- Volume
- 54
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 93-101
- ISSN
- 0140-0118 (ISSN-L)
- 1741-0444
- PMC
- PMC4779461
- OpenAlex
- W1528327371
- Cited by
- 23
- References
- 15
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 1
- FWCI
- 0.93
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- Medical & Biological Engineering & Computing (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Research Repository (Delft University of Technology) (submittedVersion)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Neural Engineering
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Analog and Mixed-Signal Circuit Design
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Electrical and Electronic Engineering › Electrical and Bioimpedance Tomography
- Keywords
- coupling capacitor, neurostimulation, charge balance, electrode-tissue interface, offset voltage, DC blocking, platinum electrode, bipolar stimulation, electrochemical reactions, saline solution, stimulation safety
- MeSH terms
- Electric Stimulation, Electrodes, Nervous System Physiological Phenomena, Empirical Research
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