Self-Healing Electronic Nanodevices

Self-healing, defined as the ability to repair damage spontaneously, is an important survival feature in nature that increases the lifetime of most living creatures. This chapter summarizes the various approaches used to develop self-healing materials for electronic devices. Healing materials can be autonomic or nonautonomic, depending on whether an external trigger such as heat or light is required. The chapter introduces the new contributions to the development of self-healing conductors such as electrical conductors, energy storage, and electronic skin (E-skin). A self-healing conductor capsule is autonomous in nature and has rapid healing speed. Healing can be triggered automatically at the damaged area without the need of any stimulus. Supercapacitors, a promising class of energy storage devices, are drawing much attention due to their fast charge and discharge rates, high power density, and long lifetimes. Self-healing capability in E-skin has been the driving force for the development of self-healing electronic materials.