From Flexible to Conformable Pressure Sensors: Mechanisms, Materials, and Biomedical Applications

Abstract

Advances in soft electronics and soft biorobotics have accelerated progress in advanced biomedical engineering. This new frontier motivates development of next‐generation healthcare technologies focused on minimally invasive robotic surgery and continuous real‐time physiological monitoring through wearable, implantable, and personalized devices. Among different physiological parameters, pressure represents a critical factor, extensively measured using diverse sensing mechanisms such as piezoresistive, capacitive, piezoelectric, optical, triboelectric and other different modalities. The integration of these sensing principles with emerging sustainable materials with advanced fabrication techniques has enabled the creation of flexible, stretchable, and conformable pressure sensors capable of adapting to unconventional surfaces. This literature review comprehensively summarizes up‐to‐date progress in pressure sensing mechanisms, materials, and structural design strategies, highlighting their potential towards developing advanced biomedical applications. Furthermore, it discusses current challenges, and future perspectives for developing high‐performance, biocompatible, and sustainable pressure sensors that will advance healthcare monitoring.