Nanomaterials-Based Bioinspired Next Generation Wearable Sensors: A State-of-the-Art Review

With a constantly growing percentage of the population having access to high-quality healthcare facilities, preventable pathogenic illnesses have been nearly eradicated in the developed parts of the world, which has led to a significant rise in the average human life expectancy over the last few decades. In such a highly developed world, age-related illnesses will lead to an immense burden on healthcare providers. Remote health monitoring enabled by wearable sensors will play a significant role in the growth and evolution of Health 3.0 by providing intimate and valuable information to healthcare providers regarding the progression of disease in patients with critical life-altering conditions. Especially, in the case of people suffering from neurodegenerative disorders, inexpensive and user-friendly wearable sensors can enable physiotherapists monitor real-time physiological parameters to design patient-specific treatment plans. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the recent advances and emerging trends at the convergence of biomimicry and nanomaterial sensors, with a specific focus on wearable skin-inspired mechanical sensors for applications in IoT-enabled human physiological parameters monitoring. Skin-inspired wearable mechanical sensors with relevance to the most common types of sensing mechanisms including piezoresistive, piezocapacitive, and triboelectric sensing are discussed along with their current challenges and possible future opportunities.