Scientists and researchers have started developing plans for creating a material that’ll lead to self-repairing phones and devices. This polymeric material will be transparent and stretchable, healing the device rapidly and extending their lives. Can you imagine how much money you’ll save if you don’t have to worry about fixing your phone every time it falls, or every time your screen is scratched?
Chao Wang, the leading scientist of this research, explained that the idea came from his love of the X-Men and how Wolverine was his favorite superhero, whose most important ability was the fact that he could repair himself. Wang claimed that even though Wolverine was super strong and had adamantium claws, what made him special was the fact that he could heal his wounds.
Wang’s new material would enable phones and other electrical devices of the sort the ability to repair themselves when dropped on the floor or when their screens get scratched. This would leave devices with longer lives that’ll end up saving a lot of money from consumers. If this material were to be successful, it would also change how phones are produced, maybe leading to less devices coming out each year with meaningless updates (we’re looking at you Apple).
This self-repairing ability is explained via chemical bonding, where two types of bonds exist: covalent bonds, which are strong not easily broken, and non-covalent bonds, which are weaker and more malleable. The research team from the University of California will be using a type of non-covalent bond that hasn’t been used before, called ion-dipole interaction, which rely on an exchange between charged ions and polar molecules. The resulting material can stretch itself up to 50 times its usual size and is also able to stitch itself back together in a short period of time after being torn in two.
Technology is crazy, right?
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