Stretchable gas sensors for detecting biomarkers from humans and exposed environments

The recent advent of stretchable gas sensors demonstrates their capabilities to detect not only gaseous biomarkers from the human body but also toxic gas species from the exposed environment. To ensure accurate gas detection without device breakdown from the mechanical deformations, the stretchable gas sensors often rely on the direct integration of gas-sensitive nanomaterials on the stretchable substrate or fibrous network, as well as being configured into stretchable structures. The nanomaterials in the forms of nanoparticles, nanowires, or thin-films with nanometer thickness are explored for a variety of sensing materials. The commonly used stretchable structures in the stretchable gas sensors include wrinkled structures from a pre-strain strategy, island-bridge layouts or serpentine interconnects, strain isolation approaches, and their combinations. This review aims to summarize the recent advancement in novel nanomaterials, sensor design innovations, and new fabrication approaches of stretchable gas sensors.