• CIC nanoGUNE

Can be applied to functional polymeric devices that are subjected to mechanical stress, such as flexible electronics, personal medical devices, or smart textiles. Functionalities such as electrical conductivity can be restored through self-healing of the conductive coating, which is induced by the pre-treated polymer. Furthermore, packaging materials can also benefit from the self-healing properties by restoring diffusional barrier properties upon cracking of the barrier films due to mechanical stress.

Self-healing materials can repair damages to themselves without the need of sophisticated external triggers. They automatically restore some of their functionalities after suffering external mechanical damage. Such self-healing extends the lifetime of materials and therefore is an important contribution for a green environment and sustainable technologies. Our invention applies vapor phase infiltration (VPI) to a range of polymeric substrates, thereby enabling self-healing of functional inorganic coatings atop those polymers after those suffer damage and the resulting loss of functionality.