We report the observation of remarkable electrical self-healing in mechanically damaged ZnO nanobelts. Nanoindentation into intrinsically defect-free ZnO nanobelts induces deformation and crack damage, causing a dramatic electrical signal decrease. Two self-healing regimes in the nanoindented ZnO nanobelts are revealed. The physical mechanism for the observed phenomena is analyzed in terms of the nanoindentation-induced dislocations, the short-range atomic diffusion in nanostructures, and the local heating of the dislocation zone in the electrical measurement. For details, please see

Jianfeng Zang, Zhi-Hui Xu, Richard A. Webb, and Xiaodong Li, Electrical Self-Healing of Mechanically Damaged Zinc Oxide Nanobelts, Nano Letters, 11 (2011) 241–244.