Research of advanced materials, polymers and nanotechnology primarily focuses on efforts to design materials at a molecular level to achieve desirable properties and applications at a macroscopic level. With this broad focus, research ranges from fundamental scientific investigations of the interactions, properties and assembly of such molecular constituents to applied, engineering efforts that translate such fundamental information to futuristic technological advances.
Much of the research is highly interdisciplinary, involving collaborations with chemists, biochemists, materials scientists, mechanical engineers and biologists. Moreover, most of the researchers and graduate students are affiliated with both the Texas Materials Institute and Center for Dynamics and Control of Materials: An NSF MRSEC, facilitating the use the world-class equipment and resources established in these centers. Some of the currently active topics of research include:
- Multi-scale modeling and simulations of thermodynamics and dynamical processes in colloidal, polymeric, biomimetic and semiconductor materials
- Developing new approaches to synthesize and grow nanoparticles (of metals, semiconductors and magnetic materials)
- Understanding and exploiting the interactions between nanoparticles as well as with surfaces to modulate their properties
- Design of better membranes through nanocomposite technology
- Design and control of polymers, materials, and processes for microelectronics and nanometer scale thin film structures
- Design and control of novel polymers and colloid-based materials for biomedical applications
