Current Trends in the Field of Self‐Healing Materials

Abstract The evolution of material design has mirrored advancements in the understanding of materials, nature, and the requirements of target applications. Originally, materials were only intended to play a passive role, but with a deepened understanding of material properties and design has come an improved ability to harness these properties to create materials with predetermined response mechanisms. This article has three aims: i) to briefly discuss the origin of and motivation for having materials that are capable of undergoing healing either extrinsically or intrinsically; ii) to present the most recent and promising advancements in the field of self‐healing materials; and iii) to discuss important material design and property specifications that should be considered in order to promote the development of optimized self‐healing materials.