USM Doctoral Student’s Polymer Research Accepted for Publication

Wed, 02/15/2023 - 07:15am | By: Van Arnold

Research on nanoporous materials by Mark Robertson, a fourth-year doctoral student at The University of Southern Mississippi (USM), has been accepted for publication in the prestigious trade journal Nature Communications. Robertson works in the lab of Dr. Zhe Qiang, assistant professor in the School of Polymer Science and Engineering at USM.

To be more precise, Robertson points out that his research has developed a practical, industrially relevant method to convert the nanostructures of very common polymers into valuable porous products. The new platform could provide new opportunities for enhanced performance in various applications like materials for batteries or water remediation.

Robertson, who expects to complete his doctoral program in spring 2024, is understandably thrilled by the recognition for his research efforts.

“I have published a few other works throughout my graduate school career, but having our research represented in a journal like Nature Communications is very exciting for us,” he said. “This provides us with the opportunity to reach a broad audience beyond just the community of polymer researchers to maximize the impact of our research.”

Robertson goes on to explain more about the transformative research:

“If you think about your typical water filtration system, they often contain materials known as ‘activated carbon.’ Activated carbons are porous carbon materials that can be used to trap contaminants within the pores of the carbon and provide a cheap solution to clean our drinking water,” said Robertson. “The problem with commercial activated carbon is that the pores are often highly disordered and can be smaller than the dimensions of some molecules.”

Added Robertson, “These characteristics prevent certain molecules from diffusing into the carbon for us in various applications. In our work, we have developed a new, simplified method of making these ordered porous carbon materials from very common polymers which could allow them to be adopted at commercial scales.”

Nature Communications is a peer-reviewed, open access, scientific journal published by Nature Portfolio since 2010. It is a multidisciplinary journal that covers the natural sciences, including physics, chemistry, earth sciences, medicine, and biology.