Graduate Student Seminar
April 18, 2025
10:00 a.m. ET
McConomy Auditorium, First Floor Cohon University Center
Nanocomposite Synthesis via Brush-Grafted Particles
Polymer nanocomposites consisting of inorganic particles embedded in a polymer matrix are attractive platforms for complex materials design. Combining the vastly different chemical and physical characteristics of these material types allows for mechanical, chemical, electromagnetic, or combinations of these properties not possible with either component alone. While such composites therefore offer a massive parameter space to tailor material performance, the process of designing new, useful nanocomposites is not always as straightforward as simply blending a set of nanoparticle building blocks into a soft macromolecular matrix. There is ample opportunity for next-generation composite designs to both maximize material performance and to introduce new emergent phenomena that occur when nanoparticle organization within the matrix is intentionally programmed.
In this talk, I will highlight the Macfarlane lab’s progress in designing nanocomposites via the integration of supramolecular chemistry, polymer synthesis, and materials processing. Our group has established a suite of “brush particles” that are inherently composite architectures containing rigid inorganic particle cores, soft polymer brush coatings, and supramolecular binding groups that dictate interactions between the polymer and nanoparticle components. Key advancements presented will include synthesis methods to achieve macroscopically scalable composites with ~85 wt% inorganic content that remain mechanically robust and readily processible. Additionally, the first “self-assembly” method capable of scalably fabricating macroscopic, fully 3D composites consisting entirely of nanoparticle superlattice arrays will be discussed. I will outline the advancements that guide our thinking about composite synthesis, underscore key design motifs for brush particle-based nanocomposites, and detail how materials chemistry and processing permit the formation of materials with controlled hierarchical organization across 7 orders of magnitude in length scale simultaneously.
Robert Macfarlane
Paul M. Cook Associate Professor of Materials Science and Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Prof. Rob Macfarlane has been a faculty member at MIT since 2015, and is currently the Paul M. Cook Associate Professor of Materials Science in the department of materials science. Prior to joining MIT, he obtained his PhD in chemistry in 2013 at Northwestern University, after which he was awarded Kavli Nanoscience Institute post- doctoral fellowship at Caltech. Prof. Macfarlane is the recipient of multiple awards for his research, including a 2016 AFOSR Young Investigator Award, a 2017 NSF CAREER Award, the 2017 ACS Unilever Award, a 2019 3M Non-Tenured faculty Award, a 2023 ACS PMSE Early Investigator Award, and a 2025 PECASE. He is an expert in the fields of self-assembly, nanocomposites, materials chemistry, and nanomaterials processing, and his research lab sits at the interface of these fields to establish new materials fabrication techniques. His lab’s research focuses on developing systems-level approaches to materials synthesis, where structural features at the molecular, nano, and macroscopic length scales act together as integrated design handles to control a material’s hierarchical ordering. These materials range from inorganic nanoparticles to synthetic polymers to biomacromolecules like DNA, and the structures have potential utility in diverse applications ranging from energy storage to protective coatings.
Upcoming Events
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July 22 2025
10:00 AM ET
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"Artificial Intelligence Enabled Quantification of Defects in Stainless Steel 316 L parts printed via Binder Jetting," presented by Pooja Maurya
6142 Scott Hall
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July 25 2025
3:00 PM ET
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"Enabling High-Voltage Cathode in All-Solid-State Batteries," presented by Young-Geun Lee
2327 Wean Hall
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July 29 2025
11:00 AM ET
Materials Science and Engineering
Graduate Programs Information Session
Learn more about the master's and doctoral programs in materials science and engineering at CMU.
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July 30 2025
10:00 AM ET
Materials Science and Engineering
"The Data Driven Discovery of Singlet Fission Materials," presented by Siyu Gao
2327 Wean Hall
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August 13-15 2025
Materials Science and Engineering
Workshop on Methods for Three-Dimensional Microstructure Studies
The workshop is intended for researchers at all levels and will combine presentations on 3D microstructure science as well as practical presentations on the tools and methods for reconstructing, analyzing and synthesizing.
Scott Hall 5201 (Bosch Sparks Conference Room)