Don’t tell me you broke your screen – again?!
Well, I shouldn’t blame you either; cell phone screens are getting fragile over time – a grand scheme by tech giants to sell more cell phones in the long run!
Now that you have shattered it, it’s ugly! A mere glance at the screen is frustrating, isn’t it?
The bad news is, fixing your smashed screen is pricey! But you’d have to fix it anyway!
For a minute, imagine a world where you would never have to replace a shattered screen! In fact, it could heal itself!
Impossible, right?
No, it’s not! I’m not making this up!
As unlikely as it may seem, self-healing is getting very much possible with rapid advancements in technology – taking a cue from the Marvel Universe!
Wondering how? What’s the breakthrough?
This is how; Two Concordia researchers from the Oh Research Group in the Faculty of Arts and Science have looked at ways for our cell phones to “self-heal,” and their study could have more extensive implications.
Let’s learn what this is all about and how this blog will turn out to be a good news for you.
Self Healing Screens – In the Making
“One of the significant challenges in these projects is to retain a balance between self-healing and mechanical properties,” explains Ph.D. candidate Twinkal Patel.
Patel says this research stands out from similar work on the topic because of its focus on temperature. What’s even more impressive, unlike before, this time around, there is a focus on achieving complete healing of scratches at just room temperature.
Another team of researchers explains the key to self-repair is in chemical bonding. Two types of bonds exist in materials. There are covalent bonds, which are strong and don’t readily reform once broken.
So that time is around the corner when you’d rush to your nearest repair shop, and their cell phone repair shop software will pull out the self-healing screens as your next replacement. Wouldn’t that be great?!
Saving Yourself Time and Money
The research party, through elementary routes, created self-healing polymers. These materials performed remarkably well at room temperature.
While material scientists have developed many approaches to self-healing – with applications ranging from soft robotics to vehicle coatings – these have overwhelmingly been implemented with soft materials and the application of heat.
Additionally this material is capable of self-healing at room temperature, it has the advantage of significantly accelerating the healing process by reacting with humidity and ultraviolet light. 95 percent damage recovery can be achieved within just 20 minutes.
Experts say these materials employed a self-healing mechanism to repair cracks and damages readily. What it entails is that consumers can save a lot of time and money. Consequently, the lifespan of the devices is increased, and the environmental burden is reduced.
What’s More to this Technology?
This technology has the potential to do so much more. For example, these self-healing polymer networks can improve the battery life of triboelectric nanogenerators. This technology allows a device to store energy and convert it into electricity when repeated movement is applied — think of LED lights that are activated when you pass by.
One of the researchers from the same research group says, “This same technology could definitely be used to extend the lifespan of cell phone batteries. In the future, we would be able to charge them just by walking.”
For the next step, the researchers are working on altering the polymer to improve the material’s properties. For example, they are testing the material in harsh conditions, such as high humidity.
Previous self-healing polymers haven’t worked well in high humidity; water gets in there and messes things up. It can change the mechanical properties. Scientists are currently tweaking the covalent bonds within the polymer itself to get these materials ready for real-world applications.
Conclusion
So next time you fumble and drop your smartphone on the floor, and shatter your phone screen, leave the repairing to the screen itself. It won’t only save you the hassle of visiting a repair store for the fix but will also spare you plenty of bucks.
On the other hand, if you are a business owner who is running your repair shop (and I am sure you have a pretty good cell phone repair shop software in your store since you prioritize customer satisfaction), you’d be catering to less screen repairs in the upcoming years. Your repair shop POS software would testify to this fact.
