self-healing RSS

   (Nanowerk Spotlight) Scientists from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Kolkata and IIT Kharagpur have discovered a new class of material which, when fractured, can repair themselves within milliseconds. This research has been published in Science ("Autonomous self-repair in piezoelectric molecular crystals"). The highly crystalline materials, when broken into pieces, can self-propel and re-join in the blink of an eye, and repair themselves so precisely that they become indistinguishable from the undisturbed materials. These new materials may find applications in various high-tech applications. Micrographs of crystals of 1 exhibiting self-healing. Repeat self-healing cycles are shown in panels 1...