Details
Speaker: Heyi Liang, PhD
Assistant Professor
Materials Science and Engineering, University of Florida
Talk Title: “Designing Polymeric Materials Beyond Monomer Chemistry: Architecture, Sequence, and Polydispersity as Design Variables”
Abstract:
Polymeric materials possess multiple levels of molecular information beyond the chemical identity of their monomers. Chain architecture defines how monomers are connected into macromolecules, monomer sequence determines the spatial arrangement of chemical functionality along a chain, and polydispersity describes the statistical composition of the molecular population. In this talk, I will illustrate through three examples how these design dimensions provide routes to controlling material properties beyond monomer chemistry alone. First, I will discuss comb and bottlebrush polymers, where molecular architecture controls chain conformation, entanglement, and mechanical response. Second, I will examine sequence-controlled polyampholytes, showing how the arrangement of oppositely charged monomers along a chain can strongly influence phase separation and molecular partitioning even at fixed overall composition. Finally, I will discuss polydisperse entangled polymer melts, where the molecular-weight distribution serves as an ensemble-level design variable governing stress relaxation and rheology over broad time scales. Together, these examples demonstrate how computational modeling and theoretical approaches can connect these molecular design variables to macroscopic behavior and enable the rational design of polymeric materials.
Bio:
Heyi Liang, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of Materials Science and Engineering at University of Florida. His research group focuses on computational design and discovery of soft materials for biomedical applications and sustainability. His research combines molecular simulation, statistical mechanics, polymer physics, and multiscale modeling to establish quantitative connections between molecular structure, mesoscale organization, and macroscopic material properties. Current research interests include sequence-controlled polymers and biomolecular condensates, sustainable and recyclable polymeric materials, dynamic polymer networks, and the molecular origins of mechanical and rheological behavior in soft materials. A central theme of his work is the development of computational approaches that bridge atomistic simulations, coarse-grained models, and theoretical descriptions to enable predictive materials design across multiple length and time scales. Dr. Liang received his Ph.D. in Polymer Science from the University of Akron and subsequently conducted postdoctoral research in the group of Prof. Juan de Pablo at the University of Chicago. His broader research interests span polymer physics, soft matter, biomolecular materials, and computational materials science, with an emphasis on translating molecular-level understanding into design principles for functional materials.