Capsules for Self-Healing Circuits

Nanotube-filled capsules could restore conductivity to damaged electronics.

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.

Electrical band-aid: Polymer capsules filled with carbon nanotubes can restore conductivity to electrical circuits when ripped open. The nanotube suspension inside the capsules is visible in the light microscope image above; the image below, from a scanning-electron microscope, shows the surface of the polymer capsules. Credit: J. Mat. Chem./RSC Publishing

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. The researchers, from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, are also working on capsule additives designed to heal failures in lithium-ion battery electrodes, to prevent the short-circuiting that can sometimes cause a fire.

http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/23413/page2/