self-healing polymer

Researchers at Universities in Ohio, USA and Fribourg, Switzerland have developed a rubbery plastic that is self-healing when exposed to ultraviolet light. Self-healing materials are not that new, but in this case damages can more easily be fixed because of the precise method. The structure of the new developed plastic makes it possible to ‘locally’ heat and melt the material and heal the cut.

This is what the website of Nature says:

Cracked your mobile-phone display? In the future, the remedy might be as simple, and cheap, as shining some light on it.

That is according to Christoph Weder, a materials scientist at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland, and his colleagues, who have developed a type of rubbery plastic that 'self heals' when exposed to ultraviolet light. The material might one day be incorporated into varnish, paint or mobile-phone covers.

"Just try to imagine how the lifetime of many items could be improved if damages could be easily fixed," says Weder.

Read the whole story by Nature here and find more information here.