Christopher M. Bates

About

Professor Christopher M. Bates leads a research group within the Materials Department at UC Santa Barbara. The Bates Group focuses on the design, synthesis, characterization, and application of new soft materials. Their work involves exploring innovative approaches to develop materials with novel properties and functionalities. The group is actively engaged in advancing the understanding and practical use of these soft materials, contributing to the broader field of materials science.

Research topics

• Nanotechnology
• Materials science
• Chemistry
• Composite material
• Artificial Intelligence
• Organic chemistry
• Chemical engineering
• Computer Science
• Polymer chemistry
• Engineering

Selected publications

• Engineering Li/Na selectivity in 12-Crown-4–functionalized polymer membranes

  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2021 · 179 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  solubility due to binding with crown ethers. Under mixed salt conditions, 12-crown-4 functionalized membranes showed identical solubility selectivity relative to single salt conditions; however, the permeability and diffusivity selectivity of LiCl over NaCl decreased, presumably due to flux coupling. These results reveal insights for designing advanced membranes with solute-specific selectivity by utilizing host-guest interactions.

  DOI

• Dynamic Bottlebrush Polymer Networks: Self-Healing in Super-Soft Materials

  Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2020 · 165 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  We introduce a design strategy to expand the range of accessible mechanical properties in covalent adaptable networks (CANs) using bottlebrush polymer building blocks. Well-defined bottlebrush polymers with rubbery poly(4-methylcaprolactone) side chains were cross-linked in formulations that include a bislactone and strong Lewis acid (tin ethylhexanoate). The resulting materials exhibit tunable stress-relaxation rates at elevated temperatures (160-180 °C) due to dynamic ester cross-links that un…

  DOI

• Room temperature 3D printing of super-soft and solvent-free elastomers

  Science Advances · 2020 · 131 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  Super-soft elastomers derived from bottlebrush polymers show promise as advanced materials for biomimetic tissue and device applications, but current processing strategies are restricted to simple molding. Here, we introduce a design concept that enables the three-dimensional (3D) printing of super-soft and solvent-free bottlebrush elastomers at room temperature. The key advance is a class of inks comprising statistical bottlebrush polymers that self-assemble into well-ordered body-centered cubi…

  DOI

• Synthesis and Self-Assembly of AB_<i>n</i> Miktoarm Star Polymers

  ACS Macro Letters · 2020 · 117 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  samples resulted in the discovery of two TCP phases, σ and A15, that remained stable to significantly higher A-block volume fractions as the number of B arms increased. These results experimentally establish the importance of conformational asymmetry and molecular architecture as powerful design tools for the self-assembly of block copolymers into nonclassical phases.

  DOI

• Enhanced Degradation of Vinyl Copolymers Based on Lipoic Acid

  Journal of Polymer Science · 2025-01-17 · 22 citations

  articleOpen accessCorresponding

  ABSTRACT The introduction of degradable units into the backbone of commodity vinyl polymers represents a major opportunity to address the societal challenge of plastic waste and polymer recycling. Previously, we reported the facile copolymerization of α ‐lipoic acid derivatives containing 1,2‐dithiolane rings with vinyl monomers leading to the incorporation of degradable S–S disulfide bonds along the backbone at relatively high dithiolane monomer feed ratios. To further enhance the recyclability…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• CAS: Degradable Polyacrylates From Natural and Scalable Building Blocks

  NSF · $420k · 2024–2027

• CAREER: Complex Phase Behavior in Block Copolymer Materials

  NSF · $600k · 2019–2025

Frequent coauthors

• Craig J. Hawker

  University of California, Santa Barbara

  44 shared

• Javier Read de Alaniz

  University of California, Santa Barbara

  27 shared

• C. Grant Willson

  The University of Texas at Austin

  23 shared

• Christopher J. Ellison

  University of Minnesota

  20 shared

• Michael J. Maher

  18 shared

• Michael L. Chabinyc

  University of California, Santa Barbara

  17 shared

• Jeffrey L. Self

  Arizona State University

  17 shared

• Adam E. Levi

  16 shared

Labs

• Christopher Bates Research LabPI

Similar researchers at University of California, Santa Barbara

• Steven P. DenBaarsh-124
• Shuji Nakamurah-119
• Robert M. McMeekingh-86