Functional nanomaterials in flexible gas sensors: recent progress and future prospects

Flexible gas sensors have recently attracted researcher's great attention due to their applications in wearable electronics for different fields like environmental protection, food quality measurement, health supervision, etc. The bulky and complex system of conventional gas sensors hinders their applications in wearable sensing technology. Due to low cost, easy-to-use, and real-time monitoring of harmful gases, there is a rapid increase in the development of flexible gas sensors. With the mechanism of gas sensing and specification of various flexible substrates, this review article comprises a detailed discussion on nanomaterials utilized to fabricate flexible gas sensors. Specifically, all the functional materials are characterized according to their physical and chemical properties. In this article, flexible gas sensor characteristics such as sensitivity, selectivity, response time, operating temperature, and flexibility & bendability profile are discussed in detail for each material. The present review article shows the recent advancements in flexible gas sensors from the sensing material aspect and specifies their applications in various areas. Lastly, the future scope of development, like modification in morphology, functionalization, size alteration, etc., is summarized according to their current status. (c) 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

Flexible gas sensors have gained significant attention in recent years due to their wide applications in wearable electronics for environmental protection, food quality measurement, and health supervision. The low cost, easy-to-use, and real-time monitoring of harmful gases have driven the rapid development of flexible gas sensors. This review article discusses the utilization of nanomaterials in fabricating flexible gas sensors, including the characterization of functional materials based on their physical and chemical properties. The article also provides a detailed analysis of the characteristics of flexible gas sensors, such as sensitivity, selectivity, response time, operating temperature, and flexibility. The future scope of development, including morphology modification, functionalization, and size alteration, is summarized based on the current status.