Broken cell phone screens repair themselves

Broken cell phone screens repair themselves

San Francisco , 27.7.2020

Indian researchers have unveiled a self-healing crystalline material that can automatically repair broken cell phone screens in seconds.

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) in Kolkata and the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur recently unveiled a solid crystalline material that – once broken – repaired itself.

The broken crystalline material activates opposite electrical potentials at the broken ends. This state is called „piezoelectric,“ which means that the material can convert mechanical energy into electricity and vice versa.

Piezoelectricity also allows natural biomaterials, such as damaged bone and collagen, to heal themselves. A study by the researchers is available here:

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/373/6552/321/tab-article-info