Ken Schweizer

About

Ken Schweizer is the G. Ronald and Margaret H. Morris Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He holds additional professorships in Chemistry, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and is a Principal Investigator in the Materials Research Laboratory. Schweizer earned his B.S. in physics summa cum laude from Drexel University and his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His postdoctoral work was conducted in chemical physics at AT&T Bell Labs, followed by seven years as a senior research scientist at Sandia National Laboratories in the Materials Directorate. Since joining the UIUC faculty in 1991, he has developed a distinguished career focused on the development and application of predictive statistical mechanical theories of soft materials, including polymers, colloids, nanocomposites, and complex fluids. His research encompasses thermodynamics, phase transitions, structure, slow dynamics, transport properties, and nonlinear rheology in various states of organization, both in bulk and near interfaces or under confinement. Schweizer's work aims to understand existing systems at a fundamental level and to develop predictive methods for designing new materials. His contributions have been recognized through numerous awards, including fellowships, medals from the American Physical Society and the American Chemical Society, and election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has…

Research topics

• Materials science
• Physics
• Chemistry
• Chemical physics
• Composite material
• Organic chemistry
• Crystallography
• Polymer science
• Computer Science
• Nanotechnology

Selected publications

• Thermodynamics and Structure of Poly[<i>n</i>]catenane Melts

  Macromolecules · 2020 · 62 citations

  Motivated by recent achievements in the synthesis of interlocking polymers, the structural features of poly[n]catenanes, polymers composed entirely of interlocking rings (or macrocycles), are studied by extensive molecular dynamics simulations in the melt state. The degree of polymerization (number of links) is varied from n = 1–25 and the number of beads per macrocycle is varied from m = 15–50; the results are compared to linear chains of degrees of polymerization N = 15–175. The mechanical bon…

  DOI

• Dynamics of poly[<i>n</i>]catenane melts

  The Journal of Chemical Physics · 2020 · 58 citations

  Inspired by advances in the chemical synthesis of interlocking polymer architectures, extensive molecular dynamics simulations have been conducted to study the dynamical properties of poly[n]catenanes-polymers composed entirely of interlocking rings-in the melt state. Both the degree of polymerization (number of links) and the number of beads per ring are systematically varied, and the results are compared to linear and ring polymers. A simple Rouse-like model is presented, and its analytical so…

  DOI

• Experimental test of a predicted dynamics–structure–thermodynamics connection in molecularly complex glass-forming liquids

  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2021 · 52 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  Understanding in a unified manner the generic and chemically specific aspects of activated dynamics in diverse glass-forming liquids over 14 or more decades in time is a grand challenge in condensed matter physics, physical chemistry, and materials science and engineering. Large families of conceptually distinct models have postulated a causal connection with qualitatively different "order parameters" including various measures of structure, free volume, thermodynamic properties, short or interm…

  DOI

• Collective Nanoparticle Dynamics Associated with Bridging Network Formation in Model Polymer Nanocomposites

  ACS Nano · 2021 · 49 citations

  polymer-mediated bridges at high NP loadings above the percolation threshold. The NP collective relaxation times are up to 3 orders of magnitude longer than the self-diffusion limit of isolated NPs and display a rich dependence with observation wavevector and NP loading. A mode-coupling theory dynamical analysis that incorporates the static polymer-mediated bridging structure and collective motions of NPs is performed. It captures well both the observed scattering wavevector and NP loading depen…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Bridging-Controlled Network Microstructure and Long-Wavelength Fluctuations in Silica–Poly(2-vinylpyridine) Nanocomposites: Experimental Results and Theoretical Analysis

  Macromolecules · 2020 · 25 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  We have performed small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) measurements to study the evolution of length-scale-dependent nanoparticle (NP) correlations over a wide range of loadings in miscible silica–poly(2-vinylpyridine) polymer nanocomposites (PNC) characterized by strong interfacial attraction. The local cage and intermediate-scale correlations evolve in a commonly observed manner with increasing silica concentration, while long-wavelength concentration fluctuations exhibit a complex behavior. Hi…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• John G. Curro

  New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology

  33 shared

• Baicheng Mei

  University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

  33 shared

• Ashesh Ghosh

  Stanford University

  25 shared

• Alexei P. Sokolov

  Oak Ridge National Laboratory

  24 shared

• Charles F. Zukoski

  University of Southern California

  20 shared

• Erica J. Saltzman

  19 shared

• Anh D. Phan

  Phenikaa University

  17 shared

• Yuxing Zhou

  Pennsylvania State University

  16 shared

Awards & honors

• Campus-wide Award for Excellence in Graduate and Professiona…
• Engineering Council Outstanding Advisor Award, UIUC College…
• William L. Everitt Award for Teaching Excellence, COE, UIUC…
• Burnett Award for Undergraduate Teaching Excellence (1997)
• Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, elected (2021…

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