Shock-resistant laptops

Dropping a cell phone or laptop can, of course, cause irreparable damage. Now researchers are developing a material that could let a circuit self-repair small but critical damage caused by such an impact.

The researchers at the University of Illinois have discovered that carbon nanotubes can heal damaged electronics. Capsules, filled with conductive nanotubes, that rip open under mechanical stress could be placed on circuit boards in failure-prone areas. When stress causes a crack in the circuit, some of the capsules would also rupture and release nanotubes to bridge the break.

In order to make a self-healing material, Paul Brown, a professor of materials science and engineering at the University of Illinois who leads the research project with his colleague Jeffrey Moore, encapsulated carbon nanotubes inside polymer spheres about 200 micrometers in diameter each. They selected carbon nanotubes because of their high electrical conductivity and because their elongated shape does a good job of lining up to bridge gaps. In proof-of-concept studies, the researchers ripped the capsules apart and placed the resulting mixture between the tips of two electrical probes. The released nanotubes formed a bridge that completed the circuit between the two probes.

University of Illinois

Paul Brown

Jeffrey Moore