Technology pull: scale-up of polymeric mechanochemical force sensors

Newly defined reaction pathways, reaction products, and multimodal readouts are bringing the field of polymer mechanochemistry closer to final product technologies in flexible force sensing.There is now scope to integrate translation challenges for mechanophore-containing materials into early-stage material research; for example, studies of activation in production processes, material–product integration, material dispersity, and product lifetime.There is a shift in mechanochemistry to define standardised metrics of performance, including repeatability, selectivity, sensitivity, response time, working life, and biocompatibility, among others.Research into calibration, testing standardisation, and sample tolerance are paving the route towards practical applications.