Chitosan-based biosensors for affective computing

Affective computing depends on biosensors capable of detecting physiological signals associated with human emotions. Chitosan, a naturally occurring cationic polysaccharide derived from chitin, has emerged as a promising platform for such devices due to its renewability, biodegradability, biocompatibility, and ease of chemical modification. Chitosan-based materials show strong potential for next-generation biosensors in affective computing, owing to their intrinsic properties that meet many of the requirements for emotion-sensing devices.

Yi Wang and Yujun Wan provide an interdisciplinary overview of chitosan’s structural, solution, and interfacial properties, demonstrating how these characteristics can enhance biosensor performance in affective computing applications. Advances in chemical modification are evaluated for their roles in improving solubility, conductivity, selectivity, and mechanical robustness. Persistent challenges, including reproducibility, durability, and biocompatibility under real‐world conditions, are also discussed. Moreover, future perspectives are outlined, focusing on greener production methods, multi‐modal sensor integration, and the expansion of chitosan‐based technologies into new emotion‐aware application domains. This review is recently published by Frontiers of Materials Science.