Review on mechanisms, applications, and research progress of externally tunable and green manufacturing flexible sensors based on graphene-like materials

Abstract

Graphene-like two-dimensional material sensors are rapidly advancing toward intelligence and sustainability. This article reviews the latest progress in external field regulation and green manufacturing processes, with a focus on their synergistic integration pathways. In terms of external field regulation, photoelectric synergy lowers the NO ₂ detection limit to 10 ppb and shortens the humidity response time to 1 s; electrical regulation enables mid-infrared polarimeters and high-sensitivity plasmonic sensing; magnetic regulation endows germanene and silicene with tunable magneto-optical responses. In terms of green manufacturing, strategies such as using cork, silk fibroin, Cyrene solvent, and electrochemical exfoliation achieve low-energy, pollution-free fabrication, which have been successfully applied to glucose, pressure, and gas sensing. However, current research on these two major directions remains independent, facing challenges such as low electrical conductivity of green materials, random defects, energy compensation by external fields, and poor batch-to-batch consistency. In the future, it is necessary to establish a closed-loop “process–material–performance” design, develop controllable defect engineering and low-power regulation modes, advance multi-material heterointegration and sensing–memory–computing integration, and ultimately realize high-performance, scalable, and environmentally friendly intelligent sensing systems.