Scientists discover novel way to 'heal' defects in materials
Tuesday, October 2, 2012 - 07:01
in Physics & Chemistry
(Phys.org)—In a paper just published in Nature Materials, a team of researchers that includes William T.M. Irvine, assistant professor in physics at the University of Chicago, has succeeded in creating a defect in the structure of a single-layer crystal by simply inserting an extra particle, and then watching as the crystal "heals" itself. The trick to this self-healing property is that the crystal, an array of microscopic particles, must be curved.