Abstract: Recently, flexible and wearable electronic sensors has become a hot topic owing to their superior mechanical properties, lightweight, and real-time monitoring. In this review, we systematically summarize the recent progress of wearable electronic strain sensors and discuss developing trends of strain sensing technology from the aspect of material selection, structure design, working principles, fatigue failure as well as numerical analysis. The results show that the electromechanical conversion efficiency and fatigue life of the strain sensor essentially depend on conductive network evolution and layer-substrate interface. It is necessary to comprehensively consider the conductivity and wettability of the material to improve the sensing properties. Depending on different structural characteristics, the functional layer is generally categorized into five types, including helical, wrinkled, knitted, three-dimensional porous, and biomimetic architectures. There are three types of sensor mechanisms: piezoresistivity, capacitance, and piezoelectricity. Particularly, the principle of the piezoresistive sensor can be classified into disconnection mechanism, crack propagation, and tunneling effect. The studying on the fatigue characteristics shows that alternating stress can cause the functional layer to buckle, crack, and fall off. The fatigue life of a device can be effectively improved by functional group modification, the construction of a three-dimensional self-cross-linking array, the formation of topological structures, and the introduction of high-energy nanostructures. The fatigue failure models of tension, bending, and torsion deformations were schematically analyzed through construction theory, mechanical constitutive relation, and fatigue life prediction. For more efficient and accurate measurement of external stimuli, the conductive circuits model can be established by combining numerical simulations and strain transfer theory to reveal morphological changes, strain distribution, and interfacial effects. Although tremendous progress has been made for wearable strain sensors, it is of vital significance to develop thermodynamic stability, service behavior under extreme conditions, and electromechanical conversion mechanisms in order to fabricate devices with excellent strain-sensing performance.
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