Self‐Healing Materials for Electronics Applications

Abstract

Self‐healing materials have been attracting the attention of the scientists over the past few decades because of their effectiveness in detecting damage and their autonomic healing response. Self‐healing materials are an evolving and intriguing field of study that could lead to a substantial increase in the lifespan of materials, improve the reliability of materials, increase product safety, and lower product replacement costs. Within the past few years, various autonomic and non‐autonomic self‐healing systems have been developed using various approaches for a variety of applications. The inclusion of appropriate functionalities into these materials by various chemistries has enhanced their repair mechanisms activated by crack formation. This review article summarizes various self‐healing techniques that are currently being explored and the associated chemistries that are involved in the preparation of self‐healing composite materials. This paper further surveys the electronic applications of self‐healing materials in the fields of energy harvesting devices, energy storage devices, and sensors. We expect this article to provide the reader with a far deeper under-standing of self‐healing materials and their healing mechanisms in various electronics applications.