Chemists at a UK university have figured out a way to create self-healing smartphone screens, ushering in a possible future where our screens never break.
Cracking your smartphone screen is often a worst-case scenario, with the repair often costing as much as the phone itself. Fortunately, a new material could be on the way that has the potential to revolutionise the way we use our smartphones.
The material was initially developed by chemists at the University of Bristol and has achieved 100 percent recovery in some cases. The material takes inspiration from the human body, where skin is able to heal itself from minor cuts and wounds. When a cracked screen occurs, millions of microscopic carbon spheres release liquid into the crack which harden through a chemical reaction. The result is a screen that looks as good as new.
The healing agent is in such hot demand that L’Oreal has contacted the developers to create some kind of self-healing nail varnish. If this gets developed, smartphone users will have the ability to heal their devices from comfort of their own home.
