What’s the News: Researchers have developed the fastest yet self-healing polymer: The new class of materials dubbed “metallo-supramolecular polymers” heal after only one minute under UV light even when they’re repeatedly cut. This could eventually lead to self-repairing floor varnishes, automotive paints, and other applications. University of Illinois at Urbana researchers Nancy Sottos and Jeffrey Moore say these these healable polymers “offer an alternative to the damage-and-discard cycle” that is rampant in our consumer society, and could pave the way for products “that have much greater lifespans than currently available materials.” (You can see the process below in a press video from Case-Western Reserve University.)

How the Heck:

Unlike most polymers, which are composed of long molecular chains, metallo-supramolecular polymers are made of “short chains that are glued together with metal ions.”
Scratches break up the polymer chains of metallo-supramolecular polymers. By shining intense UV light on and near the scratch, the metal ions heat to over 220°C in 30 seconds, depolymerizing the material.
While still depolymerized, the unglued particles act like a liquid and flow together again, smoothing out scratches in the process.
And when the intense UV light is removed, the metal quickly cools, and the now-smooth surface solidifies ...