Abstract:  Polymer thin films and nanoparticles will enable emerging nanoscale technologies, including nanoimprint lithography for microelectronics, membranes for efficient separations and batteries, polymer solar cells for energy, coatings for barrier protection, nano-vehicles for controlled drug delivery, and components for fluorescent imaging and photonic structures.  These commercial demands have dramatically escalated the need for new routes to process polymer thin films and nanoparticles with greater control over structure and properties. In this talk, we discuss Matrix Assisted Pulsed Laser Evaporation (MAPLE) and Flash Nano-Precipitation (FNP) as unique approaches for the processing of polymer thin films and nanoparticles, respectively, with greater control over structure and properties, as compared to conventional processing methods.

Brief Biography

Rodney D. Priestley is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Princeton University.  He obtained his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Northwestern University in 2008.  He completed a NSF/Chateaubriand postdoctoral fellowship at Ecole Superieure de Physique et Chimie Industrielles de la Ville de Paris.  His research interests include polymer glasses, nanoconfined polymer dynamics, polymer thin film and nanoparticle formation, MAPLE and responsive polymers.  He is the recipient of numerous awards including the Quadrant Award, ACS New Investigator Grant, 3M Non-Tenured Faculty Grant, NSF CAREER Award, AFOSR YIP, Presidential Early Career Award for Scientist and Engineers, Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship and Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award.