Nissan unveils the world’s first self-healing phone case

No, this smartphone case won't drive you to work or pick up your kids from school. It will, however, protect itself better than all other smartphone cases, if Nissan's promises are indeed true.

The Japanese car manufacturer has collaborated to make something outside of its normal products, unveiling this week the new Nissan Scratch Shield iPhone case, which it claims can heal itself. It is created in collaboration with the University of Tokyo and Advanced Softmaterials Inc.

What makes this cell phone case really cool is the paint used on the outside. It's the same kind of scratch-resistant paint that Nissan uses on some of its cars in both the Nissan and Infiniti lines. Small nicks and scratches to the paint heal themselves, making the case (or car) look good as new. According to Nissan's press release, here's how it works:

"The outer 'paint' is made from polyrotaxane, which means that when damage occurs to the coating in the form of a fine scratch, the chemical structure is able to react to change back to its original shape and fill the gap - 'healing' the blemish."

Small scratches can heal in the paint in as little as an hour, but more major marks on the phone can take up to a week to heal.

TechCrunch reports that the case isn't in wide distribution yet, with only a few of the prototype iPhone cases distributed to journalists and select customers, but there is a chance it could be commercialized later this year. The technology is already being used on certain N-03B mobile phones in Japan.

(Photo from www.nissan-global.com)