Previously we talked about a new type of smartphone screen material that would self-heal by just applying heat to the glass, like the LG G Flex 2. Recently, scientists from the University of Tokyo has published a study on a new polymer for self-repairing smartphone screens.
The self-healing method is different from the heat method, as now you would just need to apply pressure from your fingers to clear up the cracks. They are calling this material, Polyether-thioureas, which was accidentally discovered by a University of Tokyo graduate student Yu Yanagisawa. He was making the substance into glue but discovered something strange where the edged would bond again after being cut. What is even better is that the sheets would regain their strength after just a couple of hours. That might sound like it could be an amazing breakthrough when it comes to cracked screens but questions still remain if it would be as responsive as other phone screens out there and if under screen fingerprint sensors would work through this material.
These questions are important to know as the LG G Flex 2 could only heal the phone’s case and not the screen. It will be a while before we see phones that can self-heal but when it does, it can definitely change the way phones are built and offer a peace of mind to owners
