Charles Sing
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, IL·Engineering
Many molecules carry electric charge. When oppositely charged molecules meet, they can organize themselves into larger structures, such as droplets inside cells, thickened shampoos, or the layered barriers of cell membranes.
- Fields
Engineering
Materials Science
Chemistry
- Topics
polymer physics
polyelectrolytes
complex coacervation
- Grants
- 4 known grants, through Sep 2029
What they work on
- Use hybrid polymer field theory informed by particle simulations to test how steric repulsion and hydrophobic interactions control coacervation between polycations and surfactant micelles.
- Add patterned charged patches to particles in simulations to mimic proteins, and determine how patch layout governs liquid-liquid phase separation with polyelectrolytes.
- Predict how the sequence of protein-like polypeptides directs oppositely charged surfactants into spheres, layers or tubes, linking simulation, colloid science and field theory with microscopy, scattering and rheology experiments.
- Model co-assembly of lipids and sequence-defined polyelectrolytes using atomistic, coarse-grained and field-theory methods, and train machine learning tools to predict nanostructures for selective separation membranes.
- Combine 3D printing flow stresses with dynamic bonds in bottlebrush block copolymers to tune nanostructure and structural color on the fly, guided by physics-informed machine learning and automated characterization.
More about the research
A central question is how the arrangement of charges along a molecule, its sequence or pattern, controls the structure that forms. Answering this could let materials be designed by choosing that pattern. The work combines polymer physics theory and molecular simulation with experiments by collaborators. It covers charged polymers mixed with soap-like surfactants, proteins and lipids, as well as branched polymers that are 3D printed.
Why it matters
Understanding charge-driven assembly could guide greener, healthier formulations of shampoos, cosmetics and food textures. It could also explain how proteins form compartments inside cells. Design rules from lipid–polymer mixtures could yield precise membranes for clean water, pharmaceutical, agricultural and industrial separations made without toxic solvents. Printable bottlebrush materials could support camouflage, radiative cooling, displays and energy devices.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
DMREF: Collaborative Research: Engineering Selective Membranes from Lipid-Polyelectrolyte Complexes
NSF · Oct 2025 – Sep 2029
Collaborative Research: Sequence-Driven Assembly in Polyelectrolyte/Surfactant Complex Coacervates
NSF · Sep 2025 – Aug 2029
Charge Patterning and Molecular Interactions in the Phase Behavior of Polyelectrolyte/Particle Solutions
NSF · Apr 2024 – Mar 2028
Closest labs
Sarah Perry
University of Massachusetts, MA·Engineering
Use sequence-defined charged polymers mixed with lipids to create ordered nanostructures for separation membranes. Measure the structures by scattering and predict them with multiscale simulations and machine learning.
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.
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.
The school
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign: 41 labs on PI Pages, $907M a year on research, 870 research doctorates a year.
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