Recent progress on screen-printed flexible sensors for human health monitoring

Abstract

The rapid development of advanced manufacturing technology has promoted the prosperity of micro/nano electronic devices, and flexible sensors based on screen printing have attracted much attention to meet the needs of wearable electronic products and human health monitoring in recent years. At the same time, combined with screen printing technology, flexible sensors have also been successfully proved to have very unique advantages and broad prospects in mass production. Here, we reviewed the applications of flexible sensors based on screen printing technology in the field of human health monitoring. Firstly, we introduce the manufacturing process of screen printing and its ink controllability, high resolution printing, and thickness controllability. Then, the different applications of screen-printed flexible sensors in the field of health monitoring are analyzed. In terms of flexible sensors, the specific details in application scenarios are introduced from three types of sensors: mechanical strain sensors, non-strain sensors and sensor arrays. In multiple examples of flexible sensors, the features of screen printing technology for low-cost, large-scale fabrication of flexible sensors are emphasized and highlighted. Finally, the opportunities, challenges and prospects of screen-printed flexible sensors in the field of smart wearable electronics and human health monitoring are summarized, and the feasibility of flexible sensor electronics in building smart wearable microsystems based on screen printing technology is proposed. • Three features of screen printing including the high resolution, controllability of ink and thickness are emphasized. • Screen-printed flexible sensors are comprehensively investigated and categorized to strain sensors, non-strain sensors and sensor arrays. • The key factors of screen-printed flexible sensors in application scenarios for human health monitoring are well analyzed. • The challenges and prospects of screen-printed flexible sensors for smart wearable electronics are summarized.