Through the close interplay of scalable chemical synthesis and physical materials characterization, our research group seeks to manipulate the self-assembly of organic molecules into materials with well-defined nanoscale morphologies that manifest unusual and useful bulk properties. Each project area emphasizes the “bottom up” molecular construction of materials with the ultimate goal of uncovering new guiding principles for the design of their specific and useful properties. Research projects focus on the development of new, economical materials for energy storage and use, membranes for efficient and selective chemical separations, and new polymers for applications ranging from advanced nanolithography to enhanced oil recovery. Four ongoing project areas in our group are:
Brush Block Polymer Synthesis and Self-Assembly at Ever Smaller Length Scales
Lyotropic Self-Assembly of Molecular and Polymeric Amphiphiles
Scale-invariant Mesoscale Network Materials (UMN MRSEC)
Lyotropic Liquid Crystals of Commodity Surfactants: A Window into their Dilute Solution Performance
Biostable Segmented Copolymers