Autonomous self-healing organic crystals for durable electronics

Autonomous self-healing in structurally ordered organic crystals presents a transformative pathway toward resilient, next-generation soft electronics. Here, we introduce non-centrosymmetric single crystals of 1-(9-anthryl)ethanol that exhibit rapid (~20–100 ms) autonomous crack healing under low mechanical stress cycles (<10 mN), enabled by crystal self-actuation. Inspired by self-healing of the macroscopic crystals, we fabricate flexible two-terminal microcrystal-based devices that maintain stable conductivity under repeated mechanical bending deformation, enduring bending strain of 1.8% for 100 cycles. Owing to their polar nature, these crystals demonstrate pronounced macroscopic and nanoscale piezo- and ferroelectric properties, realized under an exceptionally low coercive field (~2.7 kV/cm). As a proof-of-concept, we embed the crystals in a PVA matrix to realize a flexible nanogenerator capable of harvesting both mechanical and thermal energy. The device exhibits piezoelectric and pyroelectric coupling coefficients of ~11 pC/N and 1.38 μC/m²·K, respectively, delivering piezoelectric open-circuit voltages of ~3 V and short-circuit currents of ~2.5 μA under a continuous mechanical loading (12 N). Robust performance of the device is verified through pressure sensitivity, bending, and cyclic force tests. The integration of self-healing, ferroelectricity, flexibility, and dual-mode energy harvesting offers a blueprint for multifunctional, adaptive and low-power ordered organic materials for next-generation wearable systems.