Self‐Healing and Shape‐Memory Superconducting Devices

Intelligent materials possess the function of self‐judgment and self‐optimization while sensing external stimuli such as stress, temperature, moisture, pH, electric or magnetic fields, or light. Besides, they often require self‐healing—the ability to repair damage spontaneously—or shape‐memory—the ability to return from a deformed state to their original shape induced by an external stimulus. Introducing such intelligence into superconducting (SC) devices is highly desirable to meet the critical requirement of maintenance‐free performance. Here, self‐healing and shape‐memory functions are realized in liquid metal based SC devices using smart packaging polymers. Without deteriorating their superconductivity, the SC devices can repair themselves by simply raising the temperature, without any other treatment. Beyond the specific functions achieved here, this work sheds new light on future SC devices with advanced functions such as self‐diagnosis, self‐adjusting, and sensing. Aiming at the applied superconductivity, here the authors endow superconducting (SC) devices with smart self‐healing and shape‐memory features for the first time. An integrated system using a liquid metal as the SC material and self‐healing/shape‐memory polymer as packaging materials are designed. Without deteriorating their superconductivity, the SC devices can repair themselves by simply raising the temperature.