Functional Organic Polymers and Nanostructures
Gavvalapalli Research Group
The Gavvalapalli group engages in design, synthesis, and investigation of polymers to discern the essential macromolecular parameters crucial for developing materials that effectively tackle our contemporary global challenges.
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Gavvalapalli group’s core strength is design, development, synthesis, and structural characterization of functional polymers.
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Students in Gavvalapalli group are trained at the interfaces of organic chemistry, polymer chemistry and nanoscience, and gain expertise in the design and synthesis of small molecules, polymers and nano/colloidal particles.
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In addition to the synthesis of materials, students routinely perform conductivity, electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, electrochemical, optical and mechanical characterization, alongside basic material characterization.
Elastic and Self-healable Polymers for Organic Electronics
This project aims to understand the interplay of electronic and mechanical properties in π-conjugated polymers to develop mechanically compliant elastic and self-healable electronic materials. The developed materials are highly desirable in various traditional (eg. solar cells, transistors) as well as non-traditional (eg. electronic skin, artificial retina) electronic applications.
Polymer Hydrogels for Energy and Bioelectronic Applications
Polymer hydrogels are a remarkable class of materials that have attracted interest in material research due to their superior properties. However, because of their poor fatigue resistance, polymer hydrogels are prone to fatigue fracture during cyclic deformations. Our group has been aimed at investigating systematic solutions to make hydrogel suitable for advanced energy, tissue engineering, and bioelectronic applications.
Figure taken without permission from:
Nano Convergence., 2019, 6, 25
Bottom-Up and Solution Phase Synthesis of Higher Dimensional pi-Conjugated Materials
This project aims to develop bottom-up and solution phase synthesis of higher dimensional π-conjugated polymers. This project develops molecular and macromolecular desgin principles to accomplish this. Pi-conjugation beyond 1D renders intriguing optical, electronic and optoelectronic properties.
Figure taken without permission from:
Macromolecules., 2017, 50, 523
Shape Controlled Synthesis of Organic π-conjugated Nanoparticles
This project aims to develop a rational synthetic approach to control the shape of organic π-conjugated particles. The design rules for shape controlled synthesis of organic nanoparticles is relatively less understood compared to metal nanoparticles. Polyhedral particles of different shape are useful to control the assembly and charge/energy transport at mesosocale, and also open the door for novel photonic materials.
