Joe Patterson
University of California-Irvine, CA·Chemistry·Early-career
Some molecules have one part that likes water and another part that avoids it. Placed in liquid, they arrange themselves into tiny structures such as soft particles and thin films.
- Fields
Chemistry
Materials Science
- Topics
block copolymers
amphiphilic polymers
self-assembly
- Grants
- 2 known grants, through Jul 2028
What they work on
- 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.
- Uncover how polymer liquid droplets change into solid particles, using in-situ synchrotron X-ray scattering, cryo-electron microscopy (imaging flash-frozen samples) and liquid-phase electron microscopy (imaging samples in liquid).
- Relate polymer properties and phase behavior to how efficiently amphiphilic block copolymer particles capture small model molecules, measured with confocal microscopy, to guide drug-delivery design.
- Develop reactions that control the energy balance and speed of ring-opening polymerization-induced crystallization-driven self-assembly, in which polymer chains crystallize and assemble while they grow.
- Link polymerization rates to self-assembly mechanisms and the resulting hierarchical structures, using liquid and cryogenic electron microscopy and X-ray scattering.
More about the research
Block copolymers, long chains made of two or more different polymer segments joined end to end, behave this way. They can be designed into materials for carrying drugs, storing energy or cleaning up pollution. How a material performs depends on how its molecules organize, from the nanoscale up. This research asks how these polymer structures form, step by step. It relies heavily on electron microscopy, including methods that watch assembly as it happens in liquid. One project studies polymers that first form liquid droplets and then harden into solid particles. A second studies polymers that assemble while they are still being made, using chemistry aimed at renewable and biodegradable plastics.
Why it matters
Plastic waste and the high energy use of the polymer industry are major problems. Understanding how polymers organize as they form could help chemists design biodegradable, renewably sourced plastics made with less energy. Rules linking polymer structure to particle formation and cargo capture could also lead to better drug-delivery carriers, materials for energy storage, and materials for pollution cleanup.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Yoan Simon
Arizona State University Campus Immersion, AZ·Materials Science·Early-career
Evaluate how the structure of amphiphilic triblock copolymers — stiffness, side-chain length, and interdigitation between opposing chains — governs their behavior in polymer membranes.
Morgan Stefik
University of South Carolina-Columbia, SC·Materials Science
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.
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 California-Irvine: 46 labs on PI Pages, $645M a year on research, 524 research doctorates a year.
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