Bioinspired fabrication of micro- and nanostructured flexible sensors from surface architecture to interface engineering: A review

Drawing inspiration from nature by exploring bionic micro-nano structures found in animals and plants offers an effective strategy for enhancing the sensing performance of flexible sensors in emerging applications. This paper reviews recent advances in bio-inspired micro-nano structures of flexible sensors, spanning surface architecture to interface engineering. Firstly, two primary directions of animal-inspired designs, including spiders, scorpions, and tree frogs, and plant-inspired designs, including flytraps, mimosas, and nepenthes, are introduced to establish the relationship between micro-nano structures and sensing properties. Secondly, the cutting-edge progress of bio-inspired geometries in flexible pressure sensors, such as pyramids and hemispheres, are reviewed to enhance the force-sensitive signals in flexible sensor. Thirdly, the efficient implement of bionic structures including cracks, wrinkles, serpentines and helices, as well as interface engineering is then emphasized, with a focus on improving sensing performance under complex deformations in practical scenarios. Finally, the key challenges and future prospects in the manufacturing of bio-inspired micro- and nanostructured flexible sensors are discussed, illustrating the great potential of this method in fields such as health monitoring and human-machine interfaces.