The invention relates to a conductive polymer composite based sensor, a detection unit comprising such sensor, a method for manufacturing a conductive polymer composite based sensor, and a use of the conductive polymer composite based sensor or the detection unit. The conductive polymer composite based sensor comprises a substrate and a sensor material. The sensor material comprises an insulating polymer matrix component and an electrically conductive component dispersed in the polymer matrix component to form the conductive polymer composite. The sensor material is pre-strained and applied to the substrate to form the sensor.
