Ben Indeglia (CBE) successfully defended his thesis proposal exploring catalytic transport in Bipolar Membranes (BPMs). BPMs provide a sustainable source of hydrogen at the heterojunction of two oppositely charged ionomers sandwiching a nanoparticle catalyst layer. The stability and morphology of this system are underexplored, allowing Ben to focus on nanoparticle diffusion and catalyst layer evolution and how this relates to the lifecycle of BPM systems. His committee members are Profs. Tom Mallouk (Chemistry), Aleks Vojvodic (CBE), and John Crocker (CBE).
Author: Felice Macera
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Congratulations to our 1st year PhD students, Sam Chen and Will Presson, on passing their qualifying exams!
First-year PhD students Sam Chen (CBE) and Will Presson (MSE) successfully passed their qualifying exams. Sam and Will demonstrated mastery of their first-year coursework and promise as strong researchers. Sam presented his work on characterizing linear ethylene-vinyl alcohol as a potential barrier layer for multilayer packaging. Will presented his work on precise fluorine-free polymer electrolytes for anion exchange membrane applications. We are looking forward to seeing them progress during their PhD studies.
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Prof. Winey and collaborator Prof. Justin Kennemur were interviewed for an article in C&ENews
Justin Kennemur and I were interviewed for an article in C&ENews about the challenges of replacing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). The story highlights the various applications that use PFAS and the many strategies for reducing or eliminating their use. It’s a great read!
Amalie Frischknecht
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Ben Indeglia presented a poster at the Electrochemical Society 248th Meeting in Montreal
Ben Indeglia showed preliminary results of interface transport and nanoparticle diffusion in polymer electrolytes at the Electrochemical Society 248th Meeting in Montreal. There, he brought a polymer physics perspective to electrochemical experts, to connect important structure-property relationships to chemical phenomena. He presented a poster, and attended a myriad of seminars and discussions, connected with national and international researchers.
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Work from the PolyUp collaboration published in ACS Applied Polymer Materials!
“Synthesis and Blending of Two Poly(ethylene-co-vinyl alcohol) Polymers with Mixed 1,2-Diol Stereochemistry”
If plastic waste can be successfully dehydrogenated, countless avenues for polymer functionalization open to re-create and invent high-value plastic products. This work contributes to the PolyUp projects repertoire of possible functionalizations to a model dehydrogenated polyethylene and demonstrates the potential to control the stereochemistry of the pendant groups. Please see the link below to read more about how tuning the stereochemistry of regio-regular diol functionalizations on a polyethylene backbone impact the thermal and morphological properties of a novel plastic. And a shout out to James Votruba-Drzal, an undergraduate in the group during Summer 2024, for being a co-author!
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Congratulations on an award-winning poster at APS March Meeting, Maggie!
We are just back from a great APS March meeting! Congratulations to Margaret Brown for winning 2nd place in the DPOLY poster session! Here she is receiving the award from Prof. Rafael Verduzco of Rice University.
Maggie’s poster elucidated why a new set of polar/nonpolar multiblock copolymers fails to form the double gyroid morphology. We computed a stretching ratio for the non-polar block and the gyroid only forms when the stretching ratio is smaller than 0.77. -
Group members attended the APS 2025 Global Physics Summit in Anaheim
Five Winey group members attended the American Physical Society’s Joint March Meeting and April Meeting: Global Physics Summit 2025. While at the meeting, Winey group members gave posters (Maggie Brown, Ben Ferko) and talks (Maggie Brown, Will Drayer, Katie Sun, and Karen Winey) at various focus sessions throughout the week. Besides fruitful discussions and networking opportunities, attendees had the chance to explore Anaheim, home of Disneyland.
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Port5 collaborators from FSU and MSU visit Penn
This week, we hosted some of our Port5 project grad student collaborators for an in-person meeting. Zana Nadia Singleton from Justin Kennemur‘s group at Florida State and S. Amirali Mousavi Shahri from Michael Hickner‘s group at Michigan State joined us to share their work, learn about our experiments, and connect with our team. Thanks for coming, Zana and Amirali!
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Katie Sun’s article published in Macromolecules. Congratulations!
The article is entitled “Gold Nanoparticle Adsorption in Covalently Bonded Weak Polyelectrolyte Brushes”
Sun et al. investigate how variations in molecular weight of homopolymer poly(2-vinylpyridine) (P2VP) brushes influence the adsorption of citrate-coated gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) under different pH conditions. This study focuses on the advantages of the homopolymer brush architecture, which enables independent control over grafting density via molecular weight, offers simpler fabrication compared to block copolymer (BCP) brushes, and provides greater structural robustness. The authors find that higher molecular weight brushes adsorb more nanoparticles, particularly at low pH when the brushes are swollen. Please follow the link below to read more about how this trend mirrors observations in BCP systems, but with the added benefit of improved brush tunability and stability.
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Congratulations to Dr. Eli Fastow on a successful thesis defense!
Dr. Eli Fastow successfully defended his PhD dissertation titled “Chain and Pendant Architecture Effects in Associating Polyolefins” on February 28, 2025to his committee, Profs. Ling Li (Chair), Bryan Coughlin, Daeyeon Lee, and Chinedum Osuji. Eli was a foundational researcher in the multi-disciplinary collaboration on polymer upcycling (PolyUp). Eli has had a prolific publication record in the Winey group and a reputation for meticulous science. Eli made a lasting impact on the Winey group through his mentorship and friendship and will be much missed. We wish Eli the best in the next step in his scientific career at Dow Chemical, Collegeville, PA.