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Beyond Physical Contact: Non-Contact Flexible Sensors With Intelligent Perception
Qinghua Wei1,2, Hanxu Liu1,2, Yalong An1,2
1School of Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an, P.R. China.
None:
Non-contact flexible sensors, capable of perceiving spatial physical fields without direct contact, overcome the inherent limitations of conventional contact-based counterparts such as mechanical wear, poor stability, and discomfort. This review systematically presents the research progress of non-contact flexible sensors. It elaborates diverse working principles including capacitive coupling, Hall effect, magnetoresistance, thermoelectric effect, infrared radiation, ultrasound, and photoelectric sensing, followed by a comparative analysis of their sensitivity, response speed, and applicable scenarios. Effective strategies for enhancing sensing performance are summarized from materials and structural perspectives, including high-sensitivity functional materials, bioinspired microstructures, and three-dimensional integration. Typical applications in medical health monitoring, bioinspired electronic skin, robotic perception, and human-machine interaction are highlighted. Finally, major challenges and future trends are discussed. Non-contact flexible sensors signify a paradigm shift from surface-based to spatial sensing, laying a foundation for smarter, more natural, and sustainable sensing systems.
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