New magnetic ink ‘could aid development of self-healing devices’

Printed electronic devices could be made more robust than ever before thanks to the development of an innovative new type of magnetic ink.

Created by engineers at the University of California, San Diego, the ink contains microparticles oriented in a certain configuration by magnetic fields, meaning particles on both sides of a tear are magnetically attracted to each other.

This means devices printed with the ink will have the ability to heal themselves when damaged, with tears as wide as three mm – a new record in the field of self-healing systems – able to be repaired in this way.

Moreover, whereas current self-healing materials require external impetus to begin the healing process and can take between a few minutes and several days to work, this new system can automatically repair damage in 0.05 seconds.

It has already been shown that self-healing batteries, electrochemical sensors and wearable textile-based electrical circuits can be manufactured in this way.

Joseph Wang, director of the Center for Wearable Sensors and chair of the nanoengineering department at the University of California, San Diego, said: "Our work holds considerable promise for widespread practical applications for long-lasting printed electronic devices."

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