Research Goals - Overview
The design of materials with a tailored set of properties is an age-old endeavor, yet one in which new challenges emerge with each new application one can envision. Today, polymeric materials pervade all areas of technology, from medicine to electronics. Most polymeric materials introduced into commerce today contain multiple components or phases, with supramolecular structures ranging from nanometers to microns. Such materials offer the potential for synergistic property combinations, and even entirely new applications where the polymer structure is used as a template, but their complex behavior makes tapping this potential a true challenge. By elucidating the connections between materials synthesis, processing, morphology, and physical properties, our work aims to provide key ideas in the design of materials with tailored properties, and show how these materials may be used in new areas of technology. Our current work in three general areas is elaborated below. The current and potential applications of the materials described therein range from packaging film to microelectronic device fabrication, but all share common aspects of their structure and dynamics which form the core of our research program.
