Scientists, including one of Indian origin, have developed a magnetic ink that can be used to 3D print self-healing batteries, sensors and wearable, textile-based electrical circuits.”We wanted to develop a smart system with impressive self-healing abilities with easy-to-find, inexpensive materials,” said Amay Bandodkar, who earned his PhD in Wangs lab and is now a postdoctoral researcher at North Western University.Researchers repeatedly damaged the devices nine times at the same location.They then set about damaging these devices by cutting them and pulling them apart to create increasingly wide gaps.The researchers printed a self-healing circuit on the sleeve of a T-shirt and connected it with an LED light and a coin battery.”Our spandex fabric work holds considerable promise for widespread practical applications for long-lasting printed electronic devices,” said Joseph Wang, from University of California San Diego. They also inflicted damage in four different places on the same device.Existing self-healing materials require an external trigger to kick start the healing process. Damage is repaired within about 50 milliseconds (0. They also take anywhere between a few minutes to several days to work. They then cut the circuit and the fabric it was printed on.The devices still healed themselves and recovered their function while losing a minimum amount of conductivity.The key ingredient for the ink is micro particles oriented in a certain configuration by a magnetic field.The study was published in the journal of Science Advances..05 seconds).By contrast, the new system does not require any outside catalyst to work. However, within a few seconds it started turning back on as the two sides of the circuit came together again and healed themselves, restoring conductivity.Engineers used the ink to print batteries, electrochemical sensors and wearable, textile-based electrical circuits.The researchers printed a self-healing circuit on the sleeve of a T-shirt and connected it with an LED light and a coin battery.Due to their orientation, particles on both sides of a tear are magnetically attracted to one another, causing a device printed with the ink to heal itself within seconds.At that point, the LED turned off.The devices repair tears as wide as 3 millimetres – a record in the field of self-healing systems
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