Recent Advances in Flexible Pressure Sensors: Mechanisms, Materials, Designs and Applications

Abstract

In recent years, the rapid development of flexible electronics, smart materials, and micro/nanofabrication technologies has greatly promoted the advancement of flexible pressure sensors. These sensors have achieved significant improvements in sensitivity, detection range, stability, and functional integration, demonstrating great potential for applications in wearable electronics, smart healthcare, and human–machine interaction. This review summarizes recent progress in flexible pressure sensors in terms of sensing mechanisms, functional materials, structural designs, and intelligent applications. First, the working principles and performance characteristics of typical sensing mechanisms, including piezoresistive, capacitive, piezoelectric, triboelectric, iontronic, self-powered, and electrochemical sensing, are introduced and compared. Then, the development of key materials, such as flexible substrates, carbon-based nanomaterials, metal nanostructures, conductive hydrogels, and MXenes, is summarized. The effects of structural designs, including serpentine, three-dimensional porous, crack, wrinkle, and Kirigami structures, on flexibility, stretchability, sensitivity, detection range, and cycling stability are also discussed. Furthermore, the applications of flexible pressure sensors in pulse monitoring, blood pressure monitoring, human motion detection, cardiovascular health assessment, disease diagnosis, gesture recognition, human–machine interaction, and electronic skin are reviewed. Finally, the major challenges and future perspectives of flexible pressure sensors are discussed.