Recent progress of flexible pressure sensors: from principle, structure to application characteristics

Abstract

Due to its conformal capability, the flexible pressure sensor has a wide range of applications in wearable devices, health monitoring, human–machine interfaces, and other fields. Sensors designed according to various principles and application scenarios exhibit a variety of good characteristics such as high sensitivity, high transparency, a wide detection limit, and low crosstalk. However, achieving all these exceptional functions within a single sensor is evidently challenging. Therefore, it is prudent to emphasize specific advantageous features depending on the unique usage environments and application scenarios. This paper first describes the classification of flexible pressure sensors based on their working principle, then summarizes the commonly used materials and sensor characteristics, and finally reviews the application characteristics of flexible pressure sensors based on different application fields and scenarios. The bottleneck challenges encountered in the development of flexible pressure sensors are discussed, and the foreseeable development strategy is predicted.