Recent advances in flexible and soft gel-based pressure sensors

Gels, as typical flexible and soft materials, possess the intrinsic merits of transparent bionic structures, superior mechanical properties and excellent elasticity and viscosity. Recently, gel-based materials have attracted significant attention as a result of their broad and promising applications in biomedical, energy storage, light emission, actuator, military and aerospace devices, especially the intelligent sensing for human-related applications. Among the various flexible and soft pressure sensors, gel-based ones have been gradually studied as an emerging hot research topic. This review focuses on the latest findings in the rapidly developing field of gel-based pressure sensors. Firstly, the classification and properties of the three types of gels and their corresponding fabrication methods are introduced. Secondly, the four basic working principles of pressure sensors are summarized with a comparison of their advantages and disadvantages, followed by an introduction to the construction of pressure sensors based on gel structures. Thirdly, the latest representative research on the three types of gel-based materials towards various wearable sensing applications, including electronic skin, human motion capture, healthcare and rehabilitation, physiological activity monitoring and human-machine interactions, is comprehensively reviewed. Finally, a summary of the remaining challenges and an outline of the development trend for this field are presented.