TS Science

Accurate and continuous temperature monitoring is essential for effective diagnosis and management of health conditions, particularly amid global challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the rising prevalence of age-related diseases and cancer. However, conventional temperature measuring devices suffer from inherent limitations, including rigidity, bulkiness, and insufficient sensitivity, making them unsuitable for long-term, real-time applications. To overcome these challenges, a highly sensitive and f lexible temperature sensor utilizing partially reduced graphene oxide (PrGO) as the sensing material is developed. Graphene oxide (GO), characterized by disrupted sp2 bonds and oxygen-rich functional groups that act as electron traps, undergoes controlled reduction to modulate its electrical and structural properties. In this study, by employing the flash-thermal reduction technique, the reduction degree of the GO with systematic analyses on conductivity and material stability is precisely adjusted. The optimized flash-thermal reduced graphene oxide based sensor exhibits exceptional flexibility, reversibility, high sensitivity (≈1.28% °C−1), excellent linearity (R2 ≈ 0.999), long-term stability, and a rapid response time (≈0.6 s), outperforming conventional metal-based temperature sensors in sensitivity. These advancements highlight the transformative potential of flash-thermal reduction for next-generation wearable sensors, offering a lightweight, adaptable, and highly responsive platform for real-time medical monitoring and healthcare applications.