Polymer Engineering Faculty Research
The Department of Polymer Engineering is part of the world-renowned College of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering at UA, which has about 40 full-time faculty and 350 graduate students and postdoctoral research associates studying the chemistry, physics and engineering of polymeric materials and systems.
The Center for Polymer Engineering was created in 1983 and the Department of Polymer Engineering in 1984. In 1988 the Center was renamed the Institute of Polymer Engineering. The Department is currently comprised of 15 full-time faculty and approximately 140 graduate students. DPE is housed in three buildings -- the 32,000 sq. ft. Polymer Engineering Academic Center (PEAC); the 70,000 sq. ft. Sidney L. Olson Research Center (OLRC); and the 43,000 sq. ft. National Polymer Innovation Center (NPIC).
The Department of Polymer Engineering is strictly a graduate department, offering both the M.S. and Ph.D. degree in Polymer Engineering. The Department awards about 50 Ph.D. and M.S degrees each year. We are pleased that our graduates have gone on to successful careers in industry, government service, and academia throughout the world. Additionally, there are undergraduate students in the College of Engineering and the Buchtel College of Arts and Sciences who often work on either independent projects with DPE faculty or who take some of our courses that are suitable as electives for majors in engineering and the physical sciences.
Our faculty members are recognized worldwide for their contributions to polymer research and education, as well as service to the polymer field. The faculty have been recognized with numerous awards and distinctions, ranging from the International Award of the Society of Plastics Engineers and the Melvin Mooney Distinguished Technology Award of the Rubber Division of the American Chemical Society, to Fellowships in major polymer-related societies, such as the American Physical Society, American Association for the Advancement of Science , American Chemical Society, and the Society of Plastics Engineers. In addition, our younger faculty have been recognized with Faculty Early Career Awards from the National Science Foundation. DPE faculty are actively engaged in various scientific organizations, edit several scientific journals, and have written a number of textbooks and monographs.
Submissions from 2015
Elucidation of Peptide-Directed Palladium Surface Structure for Biologically Tunable Nanocatalysts, Nicholas M. Bedford, Hadi Ramezani-Dakhel, Joseph M. Slocik, Beverly D. Briggs, Yang Ren, Anatoly I. Frenkel, Valeri Petkov, Hendrik Heinz, Rajesh R. Naik, and Marc R. Knecht
Cooperative Assembly of Metal Nitrate and Citric Acid with Block Copolymers: Role of Carbonate Conversion Temperature on the Mesostructure of Ordered Porous Oxides, Michael C. Burroughs, Sarang M. Bhaway, Pattarasai Tangvijitsakul, Kevin A. Cavicchi, Mark D. Soucek, and Bryan D. Vogt
In Vitro Investigation of Antioxidant, Anti-Inflammatory, and Antiplatelet Adhesion Properties of Genistein-Modified Poly(Ethersulfone)/Poly(Vinylpyrrolidone) Hemodialysis Membranes, Teng Chang and Thein Kyu
3D Printing of Resorbable Poly(Propylene Fumarate) Tissue Engineering Scaffolds, Erin P. Childers, Martha O. Wang, Matthew L. Becker, John P. Fisher, and David Dean
Natural Rubber/Styrene Butadiene Rubber Blends Prepared by Ultrasonically Aided Extrusion, Jasesun Choi and Avraam I. Isayev
Lithium-End-Capped Polylactide Thin Films Influence Osteoblast Progenitor Cell Differentiation and Mineralization, Cheryl T. Gomillion, Rubinder kaur Lakhman, Rajeswari M. Kasi, Robert A. Weiss, Liisa T. Kuhn, and A. Jon Goldberg
Self-Healing Actuating Adhesive Based on Polyelectrolyte Multilayers, Yuanqing Gu and Nicole Zacharia
Nitro-Substituted Polyamides: A New Class of Transparent and Highly Refractive Materials, Ali Javadi, Abbas Shockravi, Mehdi Koohgard, Ali Malek, Fateme Ahmadi Shourkaei, and Shinji Ando
Modified Soybean Oil-Extended SBR Compounds and Vulcanizates Filled with Carbon Black, Jiaxi Li, Avraam I. Isayev, and Mark D. Soucek
Efficient Solution-Processed Bulk Heterojunction Perovskite Hybrid Solar Cells, Chang Liu, Kai Wang, Pengcheng Du, Chao Yi, Tianyu Meng, and Xiong Gong
The Effect of TiO2 as a Pigment in a Polyurethane/Polysiloxane Hybrid Coating/Aluminum Interface Based on Damage Evolution, Enrique Maya-Visuet, Tongzhai Gao, Mark Soucek, and Homero Castaneda
Hydrophobic/Hydrophilic Triblock Copolymers: Synthesis and Properties of Physically Cross-Linked Hydrogels, Hui Niu, Fei Wang, and Robert Weiss
Instrumented Film-Insert Injection Compression Molding for Lens Encapsulation of Liquid Crystal Displays, Isik Isil Nugay and Miko Cakmak
Comparison of Particle Size Techniques to Investigate Secondary Nucleation in HEMA-Rich Latexes, Martin Ocepek, Mark D. Soucek, Peter Berce, and Lei Meng
Large-Scale Roll-to-Roll Fabrication of Ordered Mesoporous Materials using Resol-Assisted Cooperative Assembly, Zhe Qiang, Yuanhao Guo, Hao Liu, Stephen Z. D. Cheng, Miko Cakmak, Kevin Cavicchi, and Bryan D. Vogt
Molecular Mechanism of Specific Recognition of Cubic Pt Nanocrystals by Peptides and of the Concentration-Dependent Formation from Seed Crystals, Hadi Ramezani-Dakhel, Lingyan Ruan, Yu Huang, and Hendrik Heinz
Failure Behavior after Stepwise Uniaxial Extension of Entangled Polymer Melts, Hao Sun, Panpan Lin, Gengxin Liu, Konstantinos Ntetsikas, Konstantinos Misichronis, Namgoo Kang, Jianning Liu, Apostolos Avgeropoulos, Jimmy Mays, and Shi-Qing Wang
A Real Time Study on Drying and the Mechano-Optical Behavior of Polyvinyl Alcohol Films in Solid and Swollen State, Enmin Wang, Saurabh Batra, and Miko Cakmak
Efficiencies of Perovskite Hybrid Solar Cells Influenced by Film Thickness and Morphology of CH3NH3PbI3−xClx Layer, Kai Wang, Chang Liu, Pengcheng Du, Long Chen, Jiahua Zhu, Alamgir Karim, and Xiong Gong
Impact of Nanostructure on Mechanical Properties of Norbornene-based Block Copolymers under Simulated Operating Conditions for Biobutanol Membranes, Changhuai Ye and Bryan D. Vogt
Understanding the Decreased Segmental Dynamics of Supported Thin Polymer Films Reported by Incoherent Neutron Scattering, Changhuai Ye, Clinton G. Wiener, Madhusudan Tyagi, David Uhrig, Sara V. Orski, Christopher L. Soles, Bryan D. Vogt, and David S. Simmons
Dynamic Assembly of Electrically Conductive PEDOT:PSS Nanofibers in Electrospinning Process Studied by High Speed Video, Wei Zhao, Baris Yalcin, and Miko Cakmak
Submissions from 2014
Polybutadiene-g-polypentafluorostyrene as a coupling agent for lignin-filled rubber compounds, Kushal Bahl, Nicole Swanson, Colleen Pugh, and Sadhan C. Jana
Directed Electric Field Z-Alignment Kinetics of Anisotropic Nanoparticles for Enhanced Ionic Conductivity, Saurabh Batra, Emre Unsal, and Mukerrem Cakmak
Mesoporous Carbon–Vanadium Oxide Films by Resol-Assisted, Triblock Copolymer-Templated Cooperative Self-Assembly, Sarang M. Bhaway, Kim Kisslinger, Lihua Zhang, Kevin G. Yager, Andrew L. Schmitt, Mahesh K. Mahanthappa, Alamgir Karim, and Bryan D. Vogt
Phase Behavior of Organogel Solutions, Kevin Cavicchi
Use of a new online resource, PUNK, to facilitate the inclusion of polymer topics in first semester organic chemistry, Kevin Cavicchi, GJ Gabriel, KB Aubrecht, EB Berda, PJ Costanzo, C Goh, SL Goh, S Iacono, S Morgan, and D Savin
Effects of Glucose on Cell Viability and Antioxidant and Anti-inflammatory Properties of Phytochemicals and Phytochemically Modified Membranes, Teng Chang, Chandrasekaran Neelakandan, Linda DeFine, Thomas Alexander, and Thein Kyu
Asymmetric membranes formed by coagulation induced phase separation of poly(vinyl pyrrolidone)/poly(ether sulfone)/genistein blends, Teng Chang, Chandrasekaran Neelakandan, Thein Kyu, Yu-Tsan Tseng, Linda DeFine, and Thomas Alexander
Asymmetric porous membranes formed by coagulation-induced phase separation in poly(ether sulfone)/poly(vinyl pyrrolidone)/genistein blends, Teng Chang, Chandrasekaran Neelakandan, Thein Kyu, Yu-Tsan Tseng, Linda DeFine, and Thomas Alexander
Bicontinuous mesoporous carbon thin films via an order-order transition, Guodong Deng
Fabrication and Morphological Evaluation of Ceramic Nanofibers from Novel Gas-Jet Fiber Spinning, Monoj Ghosh, Sadhan Chandra Jana, and Darrell Reneker
Mechanisms of structural organizational processes as revealed by real time mechano optical behavior of PET film during sequential biaxial stretching, Mohamed K. Hassan and Miko Cakmak
Prediction of Specific Biomolecule Adsorption on Silica Surfaces as a Function of pH and Particle Size, Hendrik Heinz, Fateme S. Emami, Valeria Puddu, Rajiv J. Berry, Vikas Varshney, Siddharth V. Patwardhan, and Carole C. Perry
Self-Healing Anticorrosion Polyelectrolyte Multilayer Using Smart Nanocontainer, Xiayun Huang, Matthew J. Bolen, Amanda B. Schubert, and Nicole S. Zacharia
High-detectivity inverted near-infrared polymer photodetectors using cross-linkable conjugated polyfluorene as an electron extraction layer, Xiaowen Hu, Kai Wang, Chang Liu, Tianyu Meng, Yang Dong, Shengjian Liu, Fei Huang, Xiong Gong, and Yong Cao
High-Performance Inverted Organic Photovoltaics with Over 1-μm Thick Active Layers, Xiaowen Hu, Chao Yi, Ming Wang, Chih-Hao Hsu, Shengjian Liu, Kai Zhang, Chengmei Zhong, Fei Huang, Xiong Gong, and Yong Cao
Decrosslinking of crosslinked high-density polyethylene via ultrasonically aided single-screw extrusion, Avraam I. Isayev and Keyuan Huang
Fiber Diameter Selection in Production of Nanofibers by Gas Jet Method, Sadhan C. Jana, Stuti Rajgarhia, Rafael Benavides, and Darrell Hyson Reneker
Fabrication of Porous Carbon/TiO2 Composites through Polymerization-Induced Phase Separation and Use As an Anode for Na-Ion Batteries, Jeongwoo Lee, Yu-Ming Chen, Yu Zhu, and Bryan Vogt
Low-cost, solution processable carbon nanotube supercapacitors and their characterization, Suvi Lehtimaki, Sampo Tuukkanen, Juho Porhonen, Pasi Moilanen, Jorma Virtanen, Mari Honkanen, and Donald Lupo
The influence of binary processing additives on the performance of polymer solar cells, Chang Liu, Xiaowen Hu, Changemei Zhong, Minguin Huang, Kai Wang, Zhan Zhang, Xiong Gong, Yong Cao, and Alan J. Heeger
The influence of binary processing additives on the performance of polymer solar cells, Chang Liu, Xiaowen Hu, Chengmei Zhong, Mingjun Huang, Kai Wang, Zhan Zhang, Xiong Gong, Yong Cao, and Alan J. Heeger
Synthesis of Anthracene-Based Donor-Acceptor Copolymers with a Thermally Removable Group for Polymer Solar Cells, Chunchen Liu, Wenzhan Xu, Xing Guan, Hin-Lap Yip, Xiong Gong, Fei Huang, and Yong Cao
Polymer Science Curriculum for the 21st Century: PUNK, S. E. Morgan, K. B. Aubrecht, E. B. Berda, Kevin A. Cavicchi, P. J. Costanzo, G. J. Gabriel, C. Goh, S. L. Goh, S. T. Iacono, and D. A. Savin
Modified Soybean Oil as a Reactive Diluent: Synthesis and Characterization, Priyanka P. Nalawade, Brinda Mayank Mehta, Coleen Pugh, and Mark D. Soucek
Synthesis of Functionalized PLA and PLGA Polyesters, Coleen Pugh, Colin Wright, Abhishek Banergee, Xiang Yan, Peiyao Wang, Xiang Lei, and Jialu Yan
Polarizable force field for the simulation of face-centered cubic metals and biological interfaces, Hadi Ramezani-Dakhel, Isidro Lorenzo Geada, Mariaore Sulpizi, and Hendrik Heinz
Mechanism of selective recognition of cubic platinum nanocrystals by peptides in aqueous solution, Hadi Ramezani-Dakhel, Lingyan Ruan, Yu Huang, and Hendrik Heinz
Molecular mechanism of temporal physico/chemical changes that take place during imidization of polyamic acid: Coupled real-time rheo-optical and IR dichroism measurements, Emre Unsal and Mukerrem Cakmak
Relationship between crosslinking and ordering kinetics for the fabrication of soft templated (FDU-16) mesoporous carbon thin films, Bryan Vogt, Zhe Qiang, and Yuanzhong Zhang
Effect of electron beam radiation on tensile and viscoelastic properties of styrenic block copolymers, Jinping Wu, Mark D. Soucek, and Mukerrem Cakmak
Water/Alcohol Soluble Neutral Fullerene Derivative to Reengineer the Surface of the Electron Extraction Layer for High Efficiency Inverted Polymer Solar Cells, Chao Yi, Kan Yue, He Ren, Wen-Bin Zhang, Lin Huang, Xiaocun Lu, George R. Newkome, Stephen Z.D. Cheng, and Xiong Gong
Omniphobic slippery coatings based on lubricant-infused porous polyelectrolyte multilayers with layer-by-layer assembly, Nicole S. Zacharia, X Huang, and J Chrisman
Facile Assembly Enhanced Spontaneous Fluorescent Response of Ag+ Ion Containing Polyelectrolyte Multilayer Films, Nicole S. Zacharia and Xiayun Huang
Temporal signatures of resistivity in bending of indium tin oxide-coated flexible transparent conductive films for flexible electronics: Influence of coating thickness and bending radius, Weilong Zhao and Miko Cakmak
Properties of polyetherimide/graphite composites prepared using ultrasonic twin-screw extrusion, Jing Zhong and Avraam I. Isayev
Submissions from 2013
Genistein Modified Poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO)/Poly(D,L-lactic acid) (PDLLA) Electrospum Mats for Bioactive Wound Dressing, Sasiwimon Buddhiranon, Linda A. DeFine, Thomas S. Alexander, and Thein Kyu
Clay Dispersion Effects on Excimer Laser Ablation of Polymer-Clay Nanocomposites, I-Ta Chang and Erol Sancaktar
Effect of Hydroxyl-Functionalization on the Structure and Properties of Polypropylene, Sahil Gupta, Xuepei Yuan, T. C. Mike Chung, S. Kumar, Mukerrem Cakmak, and Robert Weiss
Non-linear Rheology of Lightly Sulfonated Polystyrene Ionomers, Xiuying Qiao and Robert Weiss
Fine-tuning of Fluorinated Thieno[3,4-b]thiophene Copolymer for Efficient Polymer Solar Cells Adv. Mater., Hangxing Wang, Xinfei Yu, Chao Yi, He Ren, Chang Liu, Yali Yang, Steven Xiao, Jie Zheng, Alamgir Karim, Stephen Z. D. Cheng, and Xiong Gong
Sulfonation distribution in sulfonated polystyrene ionomers measured by MALDI-ToF MS, Longhe Zhang, Bryan C. Katzenmeyer, Kevin A. Cavicchi, Robert Weiss, and Chrys Wesdemiotis
Submissions from 2012
Fullerene Nanoparticles as Molecular Surfactant for Dewetting of Phase-Separating Polymer Blend Films, Diya Bandyopadhyay, Jack F. Douglas, and Alamgir Karim
Nanofibers from Scalable Gas Jet Process, Rafael E. Benavides, Sadhan Jana, and Darrell Hyson Reneker
Solubilization of Genistein in Poly(oxyethylene) via Eutectic Crystal Melting, Sasiwimon Buddhiranon and Thein Kyu
Electromagnetic Processing Line, Mukerrem Cakmak
Effect of Crosslinking on Shape Memory Behavior of Zinc Stearate/Ionomer Compounds, Jing Dong and Robert Weiss
Organic Materials and Chemistry for Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells, Chun-Hui Duan, Fei Huang, Yong Cao, Niyazi Serdar Sariciftci, Yongfang Li, Guillermo C. Bazan, and Xiong Gong
Ionic conductivity in relation to ternary phase diagram of polyethylene oxide, succinonitrile, and lithium bis(trifluoromethane) sulfonimide mixtures, Mauricio Echeverri, Namil Kim, and Thein Kyu
Influence of the Shape of Nanostructured Metal Surfaces on Adsorption of Single Peptide Molecules in Aqueous Solution, Jie Feng, Joseph M. Slocik, Mehmet Sarikaya, Rajesh R. Naik, Barry L. Farmer, and Hendrik Heinz
Investigation of the relationships between the thermodynamic phase behavior and gelation behavior of a series of tripodal trisamide compounds, Li Feng and Kevin Cavicchi
Towards High Performance Inverted Polymer Solar Cells, Xiong Gong
Large open-circuit voltage polymer solar cells by poly (3-hexylthiophene) with multi-adducts fullerenes, Xiong Gong, TianZhi Yu, Yong Cao, and Alan J. Heeger
TAILORING PROPERTIES OF CROSS-LINKED POLYIMIDE AEROGELS FOR BETTER MOISTURE RESISTANCE, FLEXIBILITY AND STRENGTH, Haiquan Guo, Mary Ann B. Meador, Linda McCorkle, Derek J. Quade, Jiao Guo, Bart Hamilton, and Mukerrem Cakmak
Clay minerals for nanocomposites and biotechnology: surface modification, dynamics and responses to stimuli, Hendrik Heinz
Nanomechanics and Dispersion of Layered Silicates in Polymer Matrices: Moduli, Cleavage Energy, and Free Energy of Exfoliation, Hendrik Heinz
Thermodynamically Consistent Force Fields and Molecular Models for the Assembly of Inorganic, Organic, and Biological Hybrid Nanostructures, Hendrik Heinz, Tzu-Jen Lin, Ratan Kishore Mishra, and Fateme S. Emami
Fluorinated polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane-based shape amphiphiles: molecular design, topological variation, and facile synthesis, Jinlin He, Kan Yue, Yuging Liu, Xinfei Yu, Peihong Ni, Kevin Cavicchi, Roderic P. Quirk, Er-Qiang Chen, Stephen Z. D. Cheng, and Wen-Bin Zhang
Phase structural formation and oscillation in polystyrene-block-polydimethylsiloxane thin films, I-Fan Hsieh, Hao-Jan Sun, Qiang Fu, Bernard Lotz, Kevin Cavicchi, and Stephen Z. D. Cheng
A Method for the Evaluation of Respirators in Nanorich Environment, Avraam Isayev
Flow and thermally induced birefringence in gas-assisted tubular injection moldings: Simulation and experiment, Avraam Isayev
Injection and compression molding fundamentals, Avraam Isayev
Kinetic Model of Glass Fiber Breakup in Corotating Twin Screw Extruder, Avraam Isayev
Liquid Crystalline Composites, Avraam Isayev
Liquid-crystalline polymers systems, Avraam Isayev
Molding: Compression, Avraam Isayev
Rheology of silica-filled polystyrene: From microcomposites to nanocomposites, Avraam Isayev
Single and Twin Screw Extruders with Ultrasonic Horns for Decrosslinking and Devulcanization, Avraam Isayev
Technical Insights Newsletter, Wiley, Avraam Isayev
Thermal stresses and birefringence in quenched cylinders, Avraam Isayev
ULTRASONIC AIDED EXTRUSION OF CNT-AND CNF-FILLED SBR COMPOUNDS AND PROPERTIES OF THEIR VULCANIZATES, Avraam Isayev
Ultrasonic Reclaiming of Silica Filled Poly (dimethyl siloxane), Avraam Isayev
Advanced Elastomer Systems, Sadhan Jana
Akron Physics Club, Sadhan Jana
Bayer MaterialScience, Sadhan Jana
Bi-component polymer nanofibers obtained from gas jet method by selective adjustment evaporation rates., Sadhan Jana