(February 26, 2018) Prof. Robert Moore has been awarded a three-year NSF Award through the Polymers Program in the Division of Materials Research. This $450K award, titled "Tailored Chain Sequences of Pendant Functional Groups and Resulting Phase Behavior of Gel-State Functionalized Blocky Copolymers", will focus on a fundamentally new way to create blocky sequences of comonomer units along a polymer chain using a post-polymerization modification of commerically-available homopolymers. By avoiding complicated synthetic schemes required in the polymerization of conventional block copolymers, this novel approach will provide cost-effective, readily available materials alternatives needed to meet critical demands for water purification membranes, fuel cell membranes for clean energy conversion and environmentally-friendly mateirals for the medical and healthcare industries. Read more about the project here.