Healing crystals without heat

Subjects Materials for devicesStructural materials An organic crystal repairs itself, even in liquid nitrogen, by using a dipole-driven mechanism rather than relying on thermal diffusion. Access through your institution Buy or subscribe This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution Access options Access through your institution Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription $32.99 / 30 days cancel any time Learn more Subscribe to this journal Receive 12 print issues and online access $259.00 per year only $21.58 per issue Learn more Rent or buy this article Prices vary by article type from$1.95 to$39.95 Learn more Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout Fig. 1: Cryogenic self-healing driven by dipole–dipole attraction. ReferencesEkeocha, J. et al. Adv. Mater. 33, 2008052 (2021).Article CAS Google Scholar Bhunia, S. et al. Science 373, 321–327 (2021).Article CAS PubMed Google Scholar Commins, P., Al-Handawi, M. B. & Naumov, P. Nat. Rev. Chem. 9, 343–355 (2025).Article PubMed Google Scholar Ding, C. et al. Nat. Mater. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-025-02411-7 (2025).Article PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar Mondal, S. et al. Nat. Commun. 14, 6589 (2023).Article CAS PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar Kumar, N. et al. ACS Photon. 12, 1840–1848 (2025).Article CAS Google Scholar Das, K. et al. Nat. Commun. 16, 6858 (2025).Article CAS PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar Download referencesAuthor informationAuthors and AffiliationsSchool of Natural Sciences, University of Lincoln, Lincoln, UKKalyan J. Kalita & Leonard J. BarbourDepartment of Chemistry and Polymer Science, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South AfricaCatharine Esterhuysen & Leonard J. BarbourAuthorsKalyan J. KalitaView author publicationsSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarCatharine EsterhuysenView author publicationsSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarLeonard J. BarbourView author publicationsSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarCorresponding authorCorrespondence to Leonard J. Barbour.Ethics declarations Competing interests The authors declare no competing interests. Rights and permissionsReprints and permissionsAbout this articleCite this articleKalita, K.J., Esterhuysen, C. & Barbour, L.J. Healing crystals without heat. Nat. Mater. (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-025-02455-9Download citationPublished: 17 December 2025Version of record: 17 December 2025DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-025-02455-9Share this articleAnyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:Get shareable linkSorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.Copy shareable link to clipboard Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative Cryogenically self-healing organic crystals Chengde DingBaolei TangHongyu Zhang Nature Materials Article 05 Dec 2025