Polymeric Materials
Â鶹´«Ã½ chemical engineers create polymeric materials that do far more than bind molecules together, they store energy, direct light, heal, and move. Our teams vapor-deposit ultrathin polymer films and engineer associative networks that stretch, fold, and “remember” their original shape, enabling soft actuators, deployable medical devices, and self-stretching substrates for flexible electronics.
Faculty leverage precise macromolecular synthesis, nanoparticle self-assembly, and liquid-crystal ordering to craft glassy liquid crystals, photo-alignment layers, and sequence-defined functional polymers that manipulate polarization or guide photons inside devices. Nano-scale patterning and monomolecular interfaces further tune charge transport and adhesion, coupling polymer films seamlessly to inorganic semiconductors, batteries, and sensors.
Polymer thin films and solid electrolytes built in vacuum deposition tools underpin our push toward safer, high-energy solid-state batteries, while bio-active coatings and microencapsulated therapeutics accelerate tissue integration and infection prevention on orthopedic and photonic implants. Complementary AI-driven molecular simulations shorten the design loop, predicting assembly pathways and properties before a single monomer is synthesized, and guiding lab discovery toward recyclable, sustainable polymer chemistries.
From responsive soft matter to ultrastable dielectric barriers, Â鶹´«Ã½’s polymeric materials research spans fundamental chemistry to device integration—preparing students and partners to invent the plastics, films, and hybrid composites that will power tomorrow’s energy, biomedical, and photonic technologies.
