Materials–Structure–Hardware–Algorithm Co-Driven Hierarchical Optimization for Flexible Sensors

Flexible electronics represent a paradigm shift in modern electronics, with flexible sensors serving as pivotal components in these systems. Despite significant advances driven by innovations in materials, structures, hardware, and algorithms, conventional design approaches that focus on optimizing individual hierarchies have inherent performance trade-offs, limiting further development. This review contends that future performance enhancements can no longer rely solely on breakthroughs in separate components. Still, it must adopt a new co-design paradigm spanning the "materials-structure-hardware-algorithm" hierarchy. In this review, we systematically organized the research landscape and representative advances across these four key hierarchies, analyzed the importance and recent breakthroughs in hierarchical synergy, and established a forward-looking theoretical framework to foster innovation and development in the field of flexible sensing.