Beyond Physical Contact: Non-Contact Flexible Sensors With Intelligent Perception.

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.