Welcome to the Kornfield Group at the California Institute of Technology.
The goal of our research is to understand on a molecular level a broad range of macroscopic properties of polymers. Owing to the tremendous diversity of their physical properties, polymeric materials find applications ranging from the most common to the most exotic products in the forms of fibers, plastics, elastomers, adhesives, and coatings. Inevitably, the final properties of the material depend not only on the chemical constitution of the polymer, but also on its physical structure. In our group we explore general aspects of the latter, relating the macromolecular structure and dynamics to the macroscopic properties.
Present problems of interest include
(1) physical aspects of the design of new biomedical materials,
(2) side-group liquid crystalline polymers for display and sensing applications,
(3) controlling alignment and microstructure in semicrystalline polymers, and
(4) polymers for collecting and concentrating solar energy.
Please click through to the research tab to find out more specifically about our group's research, and click each individual group member to find out more about their research.