Structure driven piezoresistive performance design for rubbery composites-based sensors and application prospect: a review

Recently, flexible pressure and strain sensors have attracted the attention of researchers because of their high sensitivity, broad strain-sensing ability, and various forms. Flexible sensors have essential applications and broad market prospects in fields such as wearable electronics, intelligent machines, and structural health monitoring. At the same time, these emerging fields also require more significant performance requirements for flexible sensors. Conductive rubber composite materials have high tensile strength, high electromechanical sensitivity, and high stability, making them ideal for fabricating of high-performance flexible pressure sensors. Therefore, further improving the performance of conductive flexible rubber composite pressure sensors is developmental focus. In this review, the preparation and electromechanical response mechanisms of conductive polymer composites are summarized, and methods for improving the performance of flexible sensors through structural design are introduced, including conductive network structural design, substrate structural design, and conductive polymer composite structural design. In addition, the main applications of flexible pressure sensors are introduced. Finally, problems in developing flexible sensors are summarized, and future development directions are discussed.