title: Self-healing at the nanoscale.
abstract: The design of self-healing materials is a very important but challenging topic in nanotechnology. Self-healing strategies, also inspired by natural processes, allow the fabrication of auto-repairing systems, and in recent years, materials engineering at the nanoscale has allowed further advances in this emerging field. In this mini review, we recall some interesting self-healing systems found in natural processes and others created by man-made activity with special emphasis on the role played in this field by nanostructures. Finally, the self-healing of gold nanoparticles during laser irradiation is considered in more detail since it is a rare example of a functional nanomaterial with self-repairing properties.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Sciences, Nanophotonic Laboratory, University of Padova, Via Marzolo 1, I-35131 Padova, Italy. vincenzo.amendola@unipd.it
authors.forename: Vincenzo
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Amendola
authors.forename: Moreno
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Meneghetti
mesh_terms: D040761:Biomimetic Materials; D004260:DNA Repair; D008954:Models, Biological; D056004:Molecular Dynamics Simulation; D049329:Nanostructures; D036103:Nanotechnology; D014945:Wound Healing