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
2025
- May: our undergraduate researchers Trygve Santelman and Francisco Tramonte Bisnieto graduate with their B.S. in Mechanical Engineering. Many congratulations!
- April: Jesse Kuebler gives a Pierson Graduate Seminar at the Mechanical & Materials Engineering department.
- March: Prof. Fernandez-Ballester co-organizes and chairs a session on polymer crystallization at the 2025 APS Global Physics Summit in Anaheim.
- March: Prof. Fernandez-Ballester gives a talk at the 2025 APS Global Physics Summit in Anaheim.
- March: Jesse Kuebler presents a poster at the 2025 APS Global Physics Summit in Anaheim.
- January: Prof. Fernandez-Ballester receives a National Science Foundation award as PI.
2024
- October: Prof. Fernandez-Ballester gives an invited talk at the American Chemical Society Midwest Regional Meeting in Ohama, NE.
- September: Prof. Fernandez-Ballester gives an invited talk at the International Discussion Meeting on Polymer Crystallization in Yonezawa, Japan.
- May: Prof. Fernandez-Ballester gives an invited talk at the POLY-CHAR 2024 conference in Madrid.
- May: Jesse is selected as the College of Engineering’s 2024 Outstanding Graduate Researcher recipient. Congratulations!
- April: Shantell successfully defends her master's thesis. Many congratulations!
- April: Jesse is awarded the University of Nebraska-Lincoln 2023-2024 Outstanding Graduate Research & Creative Activities Award. Congratulations!
- April: Francisco is awarded a 24-25 UCARE fellowship to carry out undergraduate research in our lab. Congratulations Francisco!
- March: our paper “Selecting for Surface-Induced vs Bulk Crystallization in P3HT Thin Films: Distinct Morphology, Orientation, and Linear Growth Rates” is published in Macromolecules. Congratulations Jesse and Linus!
- March: our paper “Selecting for Surface-Induced vs Bulk Crystallization in P3HT Thin Films: Distinct Morphology, Orientation, and Linear Growth Rates” is published in Macromolecules. Congratulations Jesse and Linus!
- March: Prof. Fernandez-Ballester gives an invited talk at the 2024 APS March Meeting in Minneapolis.
- March: Jesse Kuebler presents a poster at the 2024 APS March Meeting in Minneapolis.
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.
- July: UNL press release on our collaborative work on micro- and nano-plastic release "Nebraska study finds billions of nanoplastics released when microwaving containers".
- June: Our collaborative effort on micro- and nano-plastic release yields its first publication: “Assessing the Release of Microplastics and Nanoplastics from Plastic Containers and Reusable Food Pouches: Implications for Human Health” in Environmental Science & Technology and has been featured as a Research Highlight in Nature (https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02091-w). .
- April: our paper “Direct observation of two-step, stratified crystallization and morphology in conjugated polymers” is published and featured in the Front Cover of Macromolecules! Congratulations Jesse and Tucker! Here is the UNL press release: "Team IDs emergence of surprising layers in nanomaterial".
- 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
- October: our paper "Combined role of regioregularity and molecular weight on melt-crystallization and self-nucleation of poly(3-hexylthiophene)" has been published in Polymer. Congratulations Ramin and Jesse!
- October: congratulations to Trygve Santelman for receiving a John A. Woollam Foundation Scholarship for the 2022-23 academic year!
- August: Jeremy Lestang joins our lab for the 2022-23 year as part of his double MS program!
- June: Prof. Fernandez-Ballester receives a NCESR Instrumentation award!