Smartphone screens will be able to heal scratches by 2020

If you accidentally drop your smartphone and cause the screen to break, you'll have two options: take the screen to fix it or buy a new phone.

However, scientists at the University of California (USA) have provided you with a third choice. They have invented a type of smartphone screen material that can heal scratches on the surface.

According to Business Insider, scientists have conducted a number of tests on new materials, including testing the ability to heal cuts and scratches."After being cut to half, the material will be able to reconnect itself after 24 hours," said Chao Wang, the scientist who led the research project.

Testing the elongation ability of new materials.

The new material is also very resilient when it can be extended up to 50 times the original size by being made of flexible polymer and ionic salt. In addition, the material's ability to heal its own scratches comes from a special kind of interaction inside it - ion-dipole interaction , a kind of interaction between conducting ions and molecules at every pole. This means that when scratches appear on the material, ions and molecules will attract each other to heal and bring the material back to its original state.

Wang says this is the first time scientists have created a self-healing material that can conduct electricity. As a result, this material can be used as a smartphone and battery monitor.

Previously, some LG smartphones such as G Flex also had a similar material on the back to heal the scratches. However, LG's materials cannot conduct electricity so engineers cannot use it to make smartphone screens.

Ion-dipole interaction helps materials quickly heal cuts.

Most smartphones today have a electrode grid underneath and when users touch, their fingers will form a circuit complete with the screen. As a result, the smartphone can tell where you are placing your finger on the screen to provide an appropriate feedback.

Wang predicts that this new self-healing material will be used as a smartphone and battery display by 2020. "The self-healing materials seem quite strange in practice but I believe they will soon available on smartphones, "Wang said. " Over the next 3 years, many self-healing materials will be brought to the market and change our lives. They will make smartphones. become much better than today ".