Research progress of wearable flexible gas sensors: from gas-sensitive materials, sensing mechanisms to current research status and applications

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The rapid advancement of flexible electronics has greatly promoted the application of wearable gas sensors in fields such as environmental monitoring, healthcare, and industrial safety. However, flexible gas sensors currently face inherent trade-offs among sensitivity, selectivity, stability, power consumption, and mechanical flexibility. The transition from laboratory prototypes to practical sensing platforms still faces significant challenges. This review systematically evaluates the advantages and limitations of advanced flexible gas-sensing materials, including metal oxide semiconductors, MXenes, hydrogels, carbon-based nanomaterials, transition metal dichalcogenides, and metal-organic frameworks, as well as their corresponding sensing mechanisms. Furthermore, based on the principles of material sensitization and current research progress, this review highlights key strategies for improving sensor performance in terms of sensitivity, selectivity, stability, and flexibility, as well as optimization of device integration, and summarizes mainstream research directions in the field. It also provides an outlook on future development trends. This review integrates sensing mechanisms, material properties, performance regulation strategies, and practical application design. It aims to provide theoretical references and research insights for the large-scale deployment of flexible wearable gas sensors in real-world scenarios.