New Delhi, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Flexible electronic devices have great potential for application in small devices such as wearable devices, but the circuit inside is easy to damage after bending for a period of time, resulting in poor reliability. Researchers in India and the United Kingdom announced that they have jointly invented a technology that can give flexible electronics the ability to self-repair, thereby solving this problem.

Flexible electronics is a general term for an emerging electronic technology that installs electronic devices on flexible, ductile plastic or thin metal substrates. Flexible electronic devices can work under a certain range of deformations, such as bending, folding, compression or stretching, and have a wide range of applications. If the stability can be further improved, the application scenarios of this technology will be greatly expanded.

A joint research team from the Indian Institute of Science and the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom published a paper in the American journal Physical Review Applications, saying that they suspended copper microspheres with a radius of 5 microns in silicone oil as an insulator, and dipped a disconnected circuit in the silicone oil to simulate a damaged circuit. When a voltage is applied to both ends of the disconnected circuit, the suspended copper microspheres begin to move and eventually form a loose chain cluster, which connects the disconnected circuit.

The researchers show that the current and heat generated when the electricity is applied causes the copper microspheres to move to form a chain cluster and hold the chain cluster stable, thus forming a wire-like connection. The connection of the copper microsphere chain is flexible and stretchable, and the repair of the circuit by the method does not require other rare materials or the addition of any complex circuit.

However, the researchers say that more experiments are needed before the technique can be applied to microelectronic devices.

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