Development of conductive materials and conductive networks for flexible force sensors

Current years have witnessed the achievements of flexible force sensors, since they show great potentials in disease diagnosis, virtual reality and so forth. Conductive materials and the corresponding conductive networks are the two pivotal components that collaboratively determine the performances of flexible force sensors. Recently, some conductive force sensing materials that come into sight exhibit unique properties, but still not systematically concluded yet. Additionally, the diversity of conductive networks also has enormous effects on their force sensing performances. Regretfully, few associated reviews have summarized such response characteristics of conductive networks. In this review, initially, we summarize some conductive force sensing materials appeared recently, including conductive metal–organic frameworks, ionic deep eutectic gels, et al. Then, we discuss the force sensing features of conductive networks designed from the “Network Structure Engineering”, which contains intrinsic morphologies and arrangement configurations of conductive components. Finally, we propose the future development trends of flexible force sensors from the perspective of both conductive materials and conductive networks.