Electrochemical behaviour of titanium coated stainless steel by r.f. sputtering in synthetic sweat solutions for electrode applications

The r.f. sputtering technique was used to deposit titanium thin films on stainless steel substrates, aiming at the application of the coated samples as skin contact materials for “dry” active electrodes. In this work the electrochemical behaviour of the coated samples was investigated in synthetic sweat solutions and their performance was compared with that of uncoated stainless steel and bulk titanium. The characterisation of the samples was carried out by electrochemical techniques and scanning electron microscopy. The coated samples displayed corrosion resistance values in synthetic sweat solutions much higher than stainless steel samples and of the same order of the values measured for bulk titanium in the same conditions.