A thing of the past? Cracked screens could self -repair soon (Picture: Getty Images)

In the near future cracked smartphone screens will self-repair.

Chemists have come up with a new use for the material – a mixture of different carbon-based chemicals – originally developed for aeroplane wings.

The healing agent is poised to revolutionise a number of industries and L’Oreal is already in talks with developers to create some kind of self-healing nail varnish.

Car windshields, paint, bicycle frames and wind turbines are other things that could benefit from the material.


MORE: The iPhone 7 could be pink and have a 4K video camera

So how does it work? Much like blood forms a protective scab to heal wounds, millions of microscopic spheres crack and release liquid. The liquid moves into the newly formed cap and a chemical reaction causes it to harden like glue. The result is a near perfect recovery.

MORE: Is this what the new iPhone 7 will look like?

The material, which has achieved 100 per cent recovery of mechanical strength in some cases, was further developed by chemists at the University of Bristol.



Duncan Wass presented his groundbreaking findings at a Royal Society meeting in London last month.

He told the Independent: ‘We took inspiration from the human body.

‘We’ve not evolved to withstand any damage – if we were like that we’d have a skin as thick as a rhinoceros – but if we do get damaged, we bleed, and it scabs and heals. We just put that same sort of function into a synthetic material: let’s have something that can heal itself.’

MORE: This iPhone gun case may just be the worst idea anyone’s ever had

MORE: The iPhone 6S will be hard to show off, because it looks exactly like the iPhone 6