Research Areas Charged Polymer Materials and Devices

Research Interests PHYSICOCHEMICAL BEHAVIORS OF CHARGED POLYMERS
Charged polymers are everywhere! From biological macromolecules to synthetic polyelectrolytes for today's leading technologies, charged macromolecules are fundamental elements of our life. Our team is engaged in exploring the physicochemical and biological phenomena of charged macromolecules as well as their applications in new functional devices. Our research aims to expand our understanding of charged macromolecules and translate their activities into soft and highly deformable functional devices.

IONOTRONICS DEVICE – IONIC DIODE, TRANSISTORS, ELECTRO-ADHESION, SENSORS
Soft solids capable of conducting ions offer promise for the design of entirely new classes of highly deformable and bio-inspired devices. We demonstrate that the junction of two oppositely charged polymer yields an ‘ionic double layer’, analogous to the depletion layer in a semiconducting p-n junction. This enables the design of ionic devices for rectifying and switching non-Faradaic ionic currents. Furthermore, soft and stretchable polyelectrolyte junctions provide fundamentally new functionalities including low voltage reversible electro-adhesion and electro-mechanical transduction,

Selected Publications Hyeong Jun Kim, Lindsay Paquin, Christopher W. Barney, Soonyong So, Baohong Chen, Zhigang Suo*, Alfred J. Crosby*, and Ryan C. Hayward* "Low-Voltage Reversible Electro-Adhesion of Ionoelastomer Junctions" Advanced Materials, 32 (2020) 2000600
Hyeong Jun Kim, Baohong Chen, Zhigang Suo*, and Ryan C. Hayward* "Ionoelastomer Junctions Between Polymer Networks of Fixed Anions and Cations" Science, 367 (2020) 773

Professional Experience 박사후 연구원 (Dept. of Polymer Science and Engineering, University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2017-2020)
서강대학교 화공생명공학과 조교수 (2021-현재)