Smartphone screens that can heal themselves when broken are coming soon

If you accidentally drop your phone and the screen cracks, you usually have two options: Take your phone to a repair shop or replace it completely.

Luckily, chemists from the University of California (USA) have invented a third solution: a phone screen material that can heal cracks on its own.

The team conducted several tests on the new material, including its ability to heal itself from cuts and scratches. The results showed that after they cut the material in two, it automatically fused back together within 24 hours.

According to Chao Wang, the chemist who led the research, the material can stretch up to 50 times its original size. It is made from a flexible polymer and an ionic salt, which forms a special type of bond called an ion-dipole interaction between charged ions and polar molecules. This means that when the material is cracked or scratched, the ions and molecules attract each other to repair the material.

This is the first time scientists have created a self-healing material that can conduct electricity, which is especially useful for use in mobile phone screens and batteries, said Wang.

Some LG phones, like the G Flex, have a self-healing material on the back of the phone. However, this material does not conduct electricity, so manufacturers cannot use it for screens. Most smartphone screens have a grid of electrodes underneath, and when a user touches them, their finger (which also conducts electricity) creates a closed circuit, telling the phone what to do.

Wang predicts that the new self-healing material will be used in phone screens and batteries by 2020. The entire research will be presented by Wang's team at this week's conference of the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific organization dedicated to chemistry research.

According to VNN