India, April 1 -- Indian scientists have recently spotted a self-healing property of organic crystals with a layer-like structure that does not need any external stimuli. This can help design materials that can withstand vertical loads for technological operations.

Currently known self-healing approaches rely primarily on some form of external stimuli such as light, heat or in solution, to trigger the healing process. This greatly limits their use, particularly in applications where external intervention is undesirable or impossible. To enable autonomous self-healing, typical strategies utilized in polymers, hydrogels and composites make use of either cross-linking or healing agents to repair the damaged areas, which prove inadequate for...