Self-healing metal wire using an electric field trapping of gold nanoparticles for flexible devices

Abstract

We developed a self-healing metal wire using an electric field trapping of gold nanoparticles. A cracked metal wire on a stretchable substrate can get its conductivity again by the self-healing function. In this paper, first, we theoretically analyzed force acting on a nanoparticle and calculated a critical voltage which cause the electric field trapping. Next, we fabricated gold wires with artificially patterned cracks on a glass substrate and verified the self-healing function by experiments of a crack healing. Finally, we demonstrated the self-healing of a cracked metal wire on a stretchable substrate to show a usefulness of the self-healing for flexible devices.