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Difference between tin and silver-silver chloride electrodes

What is the main difference between tin (Sn) and silver-silver chloride (Ag/AgCl) electrodes?


When choosing the sensor material for EEG electrodes, the most important consideration is the ability to resist corrosion and maintain conductivity.
Tin (Sn) and silver-silver chloride (Ag/AgCl) electrodes are known and widely used in clinical and research areas with an overall good longevity and high signal quality.

Tin electrodes tend to attenuate low frequencies more strongly than silver-silver chloride (Ag/AgCl) electrodes (Picton, Lins & Scherg, 1995).
Other sources have found no difference between these two electrodes, particularly for measuring ERPs and SCPs (Polich and Lawson, 1985).

There is broad agreement that the filtering caused by the tin (Sn) electrode is no more serious than the typical filter setting of an EEG amplifier (Picton et al. 1995).
However, both electrode materials are very suitable.

Silver-silver chloride (Ag/AgCl) should be preferred if very slow potentials are to be recorded.