Self-healing materials can be broadly classified into inorganic capsules, biomaterials, self-healing coatings, reversible polymers, and shape memory materials. They find extensive application in a number of end use sectors such as defense, healthcare, electronics, automotive, construction, and aerospace among others. This can be largely attributed to their inherent ability to repair damage to the material without the any human influence.
With increasing research into innovations in self-healing materials, adoption of such products has increased significantly, as they reduce maintenance costs of the user, making them cost effective alternatives, to conventional products available in the market.
As per a recent study conducted by Future Market Insights on the global self-healing materials market, the healthcare sectors displays lucrative opportunities for manufacturers, as they have great potential in imitating the properties of human tissue. Electronic skin is one of the key applications where self-healing materials are anticipated to witness rapid growth.
The report states that the automotive industry is also anticipated to make use of self-healing materials particularly for paints and coating materials that will enable modern automobiles to automatically repair any scratch or cut on the surface of the vehicle.
Furthermore, as per the study, the construction market is expected to witness the use of self-healing cement and mortar that allows the self-repair of buildings from minor damages that will drive significant demand towards this sector.
“Changes in the design of materials has changed drastically in recent years, with regards to the end use, nature, and raw materials. In the past most materials were developed to play their roles passively. However, with improved understanding about material characteristics manufacturers are increasingly developing materials to have pre-determined responses to stimuli. This is the key factor that is significantly promoting the optimization of the performance of self-healing materials.” Senior Analyst FMI.
Electronic Skin to Find Extensive Application in Healthcare; Manufacturers Develop Smart Self-repair Functionality
The electronic skin market is anticipated to play key roles in the development of next gen healthcare technology. At present a number of research efforts are focused on the development of biologically-inspired technology. These variants of electronic skin can not only sense extremely minute external stimuli, but also display self-healing capabilities towards minor damage to the material.
These functionalities are expected to allow the healthcare industry to move towards the adoption of robotic surgical devices, for even extremely complex operations without the need for any kind of human intervention. However, the technology has a long way to go before it reaches this level of sophistication. This includes sufficient miniaturization of electronic components and circuits to fit easily in substrates without hindering mobility in any way.
Currently North America and Western Europe are prominently dominating the market space for electronic skin. This can be primarily attributed to the large number of researchers in these regions who are working on this technology. Moreover, the easy access to public and private investments in the field and faster access to information on new technological developments are also key in boosting the growth of the electronic skin market in the region.
China too is gradually displaying signs of becoming a major global influencer in the field of electronic skin technology with the growing number of competing manufacturers and high investments from the government and private sectors. The FMI study gives key details on the competitive scenario of the global electronic skin market, in addition to actionable insights on the latent opportunities for growth. You can click here for additional details on the same.
