Position
Director, Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials

Role
Eugene Higgins Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering

Office Phone
609-258-4691

Email
register@princeton.edu

Assistant
Jacqueline Armstrong

Office
A423 Engineering Quad

Website
https://rarpolymer.princeton.edu/

CV
register_cv.pdf

Degrees
Ph.D., University of Wisconsin, 1989
M.S.C.E.P., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1985
S.B., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1984
S.B., Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1983

Advisee(s):
Kevin Gunter
John Joseph Koleng




Bio/Description

Honors and Awards

Distinguished Teacher Award, Princeton School of Engineering and Applied Science, 2018
Fellow, American Institute of Chemical Engineers, 2014
Fellow, American Chemical Society, 2012
Graduate Mentoring Award, Princeton University, 2008
Charles M.A. Stine Award, American Institute of Chemical Engineers, 2002
Fellow, American Physical Society, 2001
Young Investigator Award, National Science Foundation, 1992
Unilever Award, American Chemical Society, 1992

Affiliations

Director, Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials
Executive Committee, Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials
Associated Faculty, Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment

Research Interests

The design of materials with a desired set of properties is an age-old endeavor, yet one in which new challenges emerge with each new application one can envision. Polymers pervade all areas of technology, from medicine to electronics to energy production. Most polymeric materials introduced into commerce today contain multiple components or phases, with supramolecular structures ranging from nanometers to microns. Such materials offer the potential for synergistic property combinations, but the myriad ways in which monomer units can be combined (random, gradient, or block copolymers) coupled with a diversity of potential macromolecular architectures (linear, branched, or star) makes tapping this potential a true challenge. By elucidating the connections between materials synthesis, processing, morphology, and physical properties, our work aims to provide key ideas in the design of materials with tailored property sets, and to show how these materials may be applied in new or existing technologies.
We have active in-house programs in polymer synthesis (typically by living polymerizations, including anionic, ring-opening metathesis, and vinyl addition); solid-state structural characterization by x-ray scattering (SAXS and WAXS) and high-resolution microscopy techniques (SEM, TEM, AFM); and physical property measurement (mechanical, rheological, permeation, etc.). Example current and recent projects include: elucidation of the mixing thermodynamics of hydrocarbon polymers, as a way to enhance the mechanical properties of plastics and the gas barrier properties of rubbers; the synthesis of new block, gradient, and random copolymers with exceptional performance in the recovery of butanol from dilute aqueous solution (like fermentation broth in biofuel production); mapping the local glass transition temperature (Tg) as a function of position throughout a nanostructured polymer; the use of block copolymers as nanofabrication templates, including for wire-grid polarizers with >90% polarization efficiency at the 193 nm wavelength used in today’s most advanced production lithography; and the synthesis of new thermoplastic elastomers (melt-processable, recyclable rubbers) with an unprecedented combination of high solvent resistance, low modulus and low hysteresis, and easy melt processability. For more current and detailed project information, see the research group website.

Selected Publications
M. Park, C. Harrison, P.M. Chaikin, R.A. Register, and D.H. Adamson, “Block Copolymer Lithography: Periodic Arrays of ~1011 Holes in 1 Square Centimeter”, Science, 276, 1401-1404 (1997).
Y.-L. Loo, R.A. Register, and A.J. Ryan, “Modes of Crystallization in Block Copolymer Microdomains:? Breakout, Templated, and Confined”, Macromolecules, 35, 2365-2374 (2002).
D.E. Angelescu, J.H. Waller, D.H. Adamson, P. Deshpande, S.Y. Chou, R.A. Register, and P.M. Chaikin, “Macroscopic Orientation of Block Copolymer Cylinders in Single-Layer Films by Shearing”, Adv. Mater., 16, 1736-1740 (2004).
S. Li, R.A. Register, J.D. Weinhold, and B.G. Landes, “Melt and Solid-State Structure of Polydisperse Polyolefin Multiblock Copolymers”, Macromolecules, 45, 5773-5781 (2012).
D.-G. Kim, T. Takigawa, T. Kashino, O. Burtovyy, A. Bell, and R.A. Register, “Hydroxyhexafluoroisopropylnorbornene Block and Random Copolymers via Vinyl Addition Polymerization and Their Application as Biobutanol Pervaporation Membranes”, Chem. Mater., 27, 6791?6801 (2015).

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Research Areas
Complex Materials and Processing
Energy and Environment