Research 

Our research focuses on using polymer self-assembly to rationally engineer materials and devices.  Areas of interest include surface nanotexturing to control optical and other functional properties; synthesizing nanoporous membranes for enhanced filtration and chemical separation; imparting novel functionality in materials through self-assembled nanopatterning; and exploring the fundamental relationships between self-assembling polymer composition and processing.  

Much of our research is done in close collaboration with CFN users.  

Functional nanopatterned surfaces


Surfaces and interfaces play a crucial role in determining material properties, particularly when scaled down to nanoscale dimensions.  We use block copolymer thin film self-assembly in combination with traditional nanofabrication methods to engineer chemical and topographical nanopatterns on surfaces of materials to imbue them with designer functionality.  Examples include narrow- or broadband antireflectance, superhydrophobicity (or superhydrophilicity), and periodic nanoscale chemical potentials. 


Selected Publications:


S. Akkineni, G.S. Doerk, C. Shi, B. Jin, S. Zhang, S. Habelitz, J.J. De Yoreo, "Biomimetic Mineral Synthesis by Nanopatterned Supramolecular-Block Copolymer Templates" Nano Lett., 23, 4290-4297 (2023).


A.A. Kulkarni and G.S. Doerk, "Hierarchical, Self-Assembled Metasurfaces via Exposure-Controlled Reflow of Block Copolymer-Derived Nanopatterns" ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 14, 27466-27475 (2022).


M.J. Hossain, M. Sun, G. Doerk, P.G. Kik, K.O. Davis, "Self-assembled multifunctional nanostructures for surface passivation and photon management in silicon photovoltaics" Nanophotonics 10, 4611-4621 (2021).


A. Al Hossain, M. Yang, A. Checco, G. Doerk, C.E. Colosqui. "Large-area nanostructured surfaces with tunable zeta potentials" Appl. Mater. Today, 19, 100553 (2020).

Nanomaterial synthesis by polymer self-assembly


We explore how polymer blending, layering, and infiltration with inorganic materials can fundamentally change assembly behavior and enable the synthesis of organic, inorganic, and hybrid nanomaterials with highly ordered nanostructures and bespoke optical and electronic properties. 


Selected Publications:


S.T. Russell, S. Bae, A. Subramanian, N. Tiwale, G. Doerk, C.Y. Nam, M. Fukuto, K.G. Yager, "Priming self-assembly pathways by stacking block copolymers" Nature Communications, 13, 6947 (2022).


G.S. Doerk, R. Li, M. Fukuto, K.G. Yager. "Wet Brush Homopolymers as “Smart Solvents” for Rapid, Large Period Block Copolymer Thin Film Self-Assembly" Macromolecules, 53, 1098-1113 (2020).

A. Subramanian, G.S. Doerk, K. Kisslinger, D.H. Yi, R.B. Grubbs, C.Y. Nam. "Direct Infiltration Synthesis of Three-Dimensional Electroactive ZnO Nanomesh Using Self-Assembled Block Copolymer Thin Films" Nanoscale, 11, 9533-9546 (2019).


A. Rahman, P.W. Majewski, G. Doerk, C.T. Black, K.G. Yager. "Non-native three-dimensional block copolymer morphologies" Nature Communications, 7, 13988 (2016).

Accelerated discovery of assembly processes 


Many elements influence self-assembly; for polymers these include incipient structure at casting, polymer architecture, blend composition, phase-selective additives, and annealing protocols to name a few.  The result is a high-dimensional and fundamentally nonequilibrium design space for assembly.  We develop combinatorial and adaptive processing strategies that can be integrated with machine-learning based guidance to rapidly navigate this design space and discover new processes for scalable and directed self-assembly of nanomaterials with tailored functionality.   


Selected Publications:


G.S. Doerk, A. Stein, S. Bae, M.M. Noack, M. Fukuto, K.G. Yager, "Autonomous discovery of emergent morphologies in directed self-assembly of block copolymer blends" Science Advances, 9, add3687 (2023).


K. Toth, S. Bae, C.O. Osuji, K.G. Yager, G.S. Doerk. "Film Thickness and Composition Effects in Symmetric Ternary Block Copolymer/Homopolymer Blends Films: Domain Spacing and Orientation" Macromolecules 54, 7970-7986 (2021).


K. Toth, C.O. Osuji, K.G. Yager, G.S. Doerk. "High-Throughput morphology mapping of self-assembling ternary polymer blends" RSC Adv. 10, 42529-42541 (2020).


M.M. Noack, G.S. Doerk, R. Li, J.K. Streit, R.A. Vaia, K.G. Yager, M. Fukuto. "Autonomous materials discovery driven by Gaussian process regression with inhomogeneous measurement noise and anisotropic kernels" Sci. Rep., 10, 17663 (2020).