Technology Roadmap for Flexible Sensors

Abstract

Humans rely increasingly on sensors to address grand challenges and to improve quality of life in the era of digitalization and big data. For ubiquitous sensing, flexible sensors are developed to overcome the limitations of conventional rigid counterparts. Despite rapid advancement in bench-side research over the last decade, the market adoption of flexible sensors remains limited. To ease and to expedite their deployment, here, we identify bottlenecks hindering the maturation of flexible sensors and propose promising solutions. We first analyze challenges in achieving satisfactory sensing performance for real-world applications and then summarize issues in compatible sensor-biology interfaces, followed by brief discussions on powering and connecting sensor networks. Issues en route to commercialization and for sustainable growth of the sector are also analyzed, highlighting environmental concerns and emphasizing nontechnical issues such as business, regulatory, and ethical considerations. Additionally, we look at future intelligent flexible sensors. In proposing a comprehensive roadmap, we hope to steer research efforts towards common goals and to guide coordinated development strategies from disparate communities. Through such collaborative efforts, scientific breakthroughs can be made sooner and capitalized for the betterment of humanity.

Keywords

Affiliated Institutions

• University of California, Berkeley US
• Becton Dickinson (United States) US
• Pohang University of Science and Technology KR
• Harvard University US
• Monash Institute of Medical Research AU
• Chemnitz University of Technology DE
• University of California, Los Angeles US
• Ida Darwin hospital GB
• Agency for Science, Technology and Research SG
• Beijing Normal University CN
• Osaka Metropolitan University
• California Institute of Technology US
• Institute of High Performance Computing SG
• Monash University AU
• National University of Singapore SG
• Carnegie Mellon University US
• Samsung (South Korea) KR
• Chinese Institute for Brain Research CN
• Hong Kong Polytechnic University HK
• Terasaki Foundation US
• Technische Universität Dresden DE
• The University of Texas at Austin US
• Michigan State University US
• Chinese Academy of Sciences CN
• Northwestern University US
• Singapore-HUJ Alliance for Research and Enterprise SG
• Beijing Institute of Technology CN
• Institute for Basic Science KR
• North Carolina State University US
• Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces DE
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology US
• Hanyang University KR
• Tsinghua University CN
• Purdue University West Lafayette US
• Harbin Institute of Technology CN
• Nanjing Tech University CN
• Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology KR
• Suzhou Research Institute CN
• Sungkyunkwan University KR
• Jinan University CN
• Fudan University CN
• Institute of Materials Research and Engineering SG
• Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences CN
• Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory US
• Seoul National University KR
• University of Cambridge GB
• Yonsei University KR
• Neurological Surgery US
• Linköping University SE
• Hong Kong University of Science and Technology HK
• Nanyang Technological University SG
• Anyang University KR
• Peking University CN
• California NanoSystems Institute US
• Osaka Research Institute of Industrial Science and Technology JP
• University of Houston US
• Stanford University US
• University of Hong Kong HK
• University of California, San Diego US
• University of Michigan US
• Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology CN
• Wallenberg Wood Science Center SE
• Institute of Chemistry CN
• The University of Tokyo JP
• Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey US
• The University of Osaka JP
• Shanghai Jiao Tong University CN
• Hebrew University of Jerusalem IL
• Southern University of Science and Technology CN

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