POLYMER PHYSICS AND ENGINEERING

Our work featured on the Front Cover of Macromolecules (April 2023). 

Here are the article and the UNL press release.  

               

Our goal is to address growing technological needs by understanding and controlling the fundamental mechanism of crystallization of polymers during processing. Semicrystalline polymers have potential for a wide range of applications in biomedicine, energy harvesting, and functional materials, Currently, advances in polymer synthesis offer unprecedented opportunities to direct crystallization, morphology, and properties, and newer technologies such as 3D-printing have not yet reached their full capabilities because structure development is complex and not well understood. Our research seeks to overcome current limitations, leading to rational design of materials/processes to obtain complex materials with advanced properties and, ultimately, to improve quality of life.

NEWS

2024

2023

  • December: Prof. Fernandez-Ballester receives a Nebraska Center for Energy Sciences Research as co-PI for collaborative research with Prof. Eric Markvicka. 
  • October: Prof. Fernandez-Ballester gives an invited talk at the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at The Ohio State University.
  • August: Prof. Fernandez-Ballester's collaborative team receives a Grand Challenge Catalyst award ($1.36 million). "Four engineering-led projects gain Grand Challenges Catalyst funding".
  • July: Prof. Fernandez-Ballester receives a University of Nebraska Collaboration Initiative grant as PI.
  • July: Prof. Fernandez-Ballester receives a University of Nebraska Collaboration Initiative grant as co-PI.
  • July: Prof. Fernandez-Ballester gives an invited talk at the 2023 NATAS conference in Washington DC. 
  • JulyUNL press release on our collaborative work on micro- and nano-plastic release "Nebraska study finds billions of nanoplastics released when microwaving containers".
  • April: congratulations to Jesse Kuebler for winning an award with his presentation "Role of Processing and Molecular Characteristics on Crystallization of Poly(3-hexylthiophene)” at the Spring 2023  Student Research Days competition at UNL.

  • April: Trygve Santelman and Francisco Tramonte are awarded UCARE undergraduate research funding for the 2023-24 academic year!

  • April: Prof. Fernandez-Ballester gives a seminar at the Mechanical & Materials Engineering department in UNL.
  • March: Prof. Fernandez-Ballester organized and chaired the invited session "Recent Progress in Polymer Crystallization" at the 2023 APS March meeting. 
  • February: Prof. Fernandez-Ballester gives a talk at the Chemical and Biomedical Engineering department at Florida State University. 

2022