Polymer Assembly

The polymer assembly theme focuses on the development of cutting edge synthesis and novel processing to control the structure and properties through assembly aided by applied fields and processing parameters. Key aspects of the polymer assembly theme include:

• Expertise in precision synthesis including monomer and small molecule synthesis, polymerization, and post-polymerization modification to enable well defined molecular architectures
• Processing and characterization of a wide range of polymer assemblies including blends; statistical, block, and graft copolymers; complex coacervates; dendrimers; and colloids
• Novel supramolecular chemistry to achieve complex molecular architectures and/or advance properties difficult through standard covalent assemblies
• Multiscale structural characterization of supramolecular materials using scattering and microscopy including multifunctional techniques (e.g. AFM-raman)

The faculty expertise in this theme spans the spectrum from synthesis and design of new materials to the fundamental characterization of structure to engineering scalable processing schemes for assembly.

Key Capabilities

• Custom robot for high throughput polymer syntheses

Theme Leaders

Dr. Tianbo Liu
A. Schulman Professor
Department of Polymer Science
330-972-3496
tliu@uakron.edu

Dr. Kevin Cavicchi
Associate Dean of Academic Affairs; Associate Professor
Department of Polymer Engineering
330-972-8368
kac58@uakron.edu

Highlighted Resources

Solution Handling Robot for High Throughput Formulation and Polymerization