Morgan Stefik
University of South Carolina-Columbia, SC·Materials Science
Many modern devices depend on materials built as precise stacks of thin layers, but these stacks are usually flat. Building layered materials in porous three-dimensional forms could give more surface area where layers meet.
- Fields
Materials Science
Chemistry
- Topics
heterostructures
porous materials
self-assembly
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jun 2029
What they work on
- Determine how the chemical reactivity of polymers and nanoparticles controls lasting polymer-nanoparticle binding, so that designed polymer structure-directing agents keep particles in the order they were added.
- Test how polymer architecture, the shape and arrangement of polymer chains, controls dynamic polymer-nanoparticle interactions during self-assembly of porous 3D heterostructures.
- Examine how nanoparticle phase (amorphous versus crystalline) and heating times from hours to seconds control sintering and interface sharpness as the layered porous structures crystallize.
More about the research
That could strengthen how they respond to light and magnetic fields and help chemical reactions run faster on their surfaces. Current fabrication methods are mostly limited to flat geometries or are slow and costly. This project asks how to build such porous 3D heterostructures, materials made of different crystalline layers joined together, using scalable polymer-based self-assembly.
Why it matters
Design rules for porous, layered 3D materials could lay the groundwork for better energy technologies, catalysts that speed up useful chemical reactions, and new ways to control light and magnetism, possibly including new quantum materials. A scalable polymer-based method could offer a cheaper, faster alternative to slow, flat-only fabrication.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Joe Patterson
University of California-Irvine, CA·Chemistry·Early-career
Make a library of multiphase amphiphilic block copolymers and map how their phase behavior depends on polymer structure and solution conditions, using electron microscopy, optical microscopy and X-ray scattering.
Qian Chen
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, IL·Materials Science
Identify the surface forces that cause ligand molecules to form patches in specific regions of nanoparticles. The goal is to learn how to break particle symmetry and create directional interactions, combining theory, simulation and experiments.
Charles Sing
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, IL·Engineering
Use hybrid polymer field theory informed by particle simulations to test how steric repulsion and hydrophobic interactions control coacervation between polycations and surfactant micelles.
The school
University of South Carolina-Columbia: 22 labs on PI Pages, $277M a year on research, 425 research doctorates a year.
Reach out
A start for your email. Fill in the brackets.