Flexible Sensors—From Materials to Applications

TLDR

Flexible sensors can be seamlessly applied to soft, irregular surfaces such as skin or textiles, enabling conformable applications like smart tattoos, artificial skins, and soft robotics, and research continues to focus on materials and structures for these devices. This review surveys the current state of flexible sensor technologies and examines how material advances shape the field. The authors highlight strain, temperature, chemical, light, and electropotential sensor types and discuss their specific applications.

Abstract

Flexible sensors have the potential to be seamlessly applied to soft and irregularly shaped surfaces such as the human skin or textile fabrics. This benefits conformability dependant applications including smart tattoos, artificial skins and soft robotics. Consequently, materials and structures for innovative flexible sensors, as well as their integration into systems, continue to be in the spotlight of research. This review outlines the current state of flexible sensor technologies and the impact of material developments on this field. Special attention is given to strain, temperature, chemical, light and electropotential sensors, as well as their respective applications.