Lexible sensors for food monitoring. Part II: Applications

Abstract

Monitoring and maintaining food quality, safety, and authenticity are the most important concerns in the food industry. The cutting-edge flexible sensors for food monitoring precisely satisfy the needs of acquiring information on multiple parameters in a small space, they provide for the more reasonable layout, get data on the mechanical deformations, and can be conformably attached to arbitrarily curved surfaces. The flexible sensing materials with a large area of specific surface, that ensure high mobility and density of the media, feature dense active sites, outstanding adjustability and high processing capacities, such as two-dimensional carbon nanomaterials, conductive polymers, and nano-hybrid materials; those materials have further improved the sensitivity, stability and selectivity of the flexible sensors’ perception. This article attempts to critically review the present state-of-arts developments in relation to the materials, manufacturing techniques and sensing mechanisms of the devices, as well as the applications of the electrically-transduced flexible sensors. Moreover, this article elaborates on the transduction mechanisms of the several typical transducers, with a focus on the physics behind, including the modulation of the doping level, Schottky barrier, and interfacial layer that typically cause changes in conductivity, functionality and permittivity. We also highlight the benefits and the technical challenges along with the appropriate solutions provided by the presented flexible sensors, and we also consider the potential strategies that allow overcoming limitations in power consumption, quantitatively assess the trade-offs in maintaining the quality and marketability, to optimize wireless communication and explore new sensing patterns.