In a paper just published in Nature Materials, a team of
researchers that includes William T.M. Irvine, assistant professor in physics
at the University of Chicago, has succeeded in creating a defect in the structure
of a single-layer crystal by simply inserting an extra particle, and then
watching as the crystal “heals” itself. The trick to this self-healing property
is that the crystal, an array of microscopic particles, must be curved.
This effect, which carries important implications for
improving the conductivity of electronics and other realms of materials
science, was predicted six years ago by physicist Mark Bowick of Syracuse
University, along with David Nelson, Homin Shin and Alex Travesset, in research
supported by the National Science Foundation. NSF also funded the new study.