Recent Advances in Flexible and Wearable Sensors

Abstract

Flexible and wearable sensors have gained attention recently due to their potential application in human motion monitoring and real-time healthcare monitoring to soft robotics and artificial muscles. These real-time monitoring and wearable devices can non-invasively detect various body indicators such as body temperature, body motion, heart rate, and moisture. Particularly for medicine, real-time monitoring of health indicators has changed conventional diagnosis and care systems. Recently, a lot of work has been carried out to exceed the limitations of conventional sensors. While conventional sensors have been widely used in many applications, their structures and materials restrict their applicability on flexible substrates and wearable applications. With the rapid improvement in smart wearable devices, the demand for highly sensitive and flexible wearable sensors has increased. Requirements for flexible and wearable sensors such as comfortability, remote operation, functionalities, wearability, flexibility, optical transparency, and timely feedback cannot be satisfied with conventional sensors. To overcome the drawbacks of conventional sensors, various advanced materials such as carbon nanomaterials, metal oxides, and conductive polymers have been extensively used for the design of new more sensitive and flexible wearable sensors. In this chapter, recent developments, material novelties, and advances in flexible and wearable sensors were reviewed to help scholars and/or readers of this research area.