Autonomous Self-Healing of Electrical Degradation in Dielectric Polymers Using In Situ Electroluminescence

The transition from fossil to carbon-dioxide-neutral energy source (solar, wind, hydro)-based electric power necessitates efficient long-distance transmission of electric power with minimum losses to highly populated regions. This requires power transmission technologies that involve very high voltages and can only be achieved through highly insulating polymers. Electrical treeing—which is typically regarded as an irreversible damaging process leading to structure degradation and electrical conduction, and, ultimately, catastrophic failure of devices—is the most common electrical breakdown phenomenon in polymer insulation. We report self-healing polymers capable of completely restoring the dielectric properties in response to electrical treeing. The self-healing approach offers new opportunities to develop an entirely different class of smart polymer dielectrics with a prolonged lifetime and improved reliability for advanced energy and electronic applications.