Soft Matter Materials Laboratory - Shining Light on Soft Matter
Established in 2008, and now calling Brisbane home, the MACROARC lab houses over 40 active researchers in the field of synthetic and physical polymer material science.
Latest News
- Apr
- 2022
- Apr
- 2022
Research
Have a closer look at our research.
Publications
See our latest work & publications.
Our Mission
The Soft Matter Materials Laboratory at QUT is situated at the interface of organic, macromolecular and materials science. We focus on a wide range of interdisciplinary, polymer-related research including but not limited to:
- The synthesis of complex macromolecular architectures with highly-defined functionality and composition via advanced polymerisation protocols
- Synthesis via polymer conjugation techniques and macromolecular transformations at ambient temperature with a particular emphasis on light driven chemical transformations
- Fundamental investigations into polymerisation mechanisms and kinetics as well as high resolution imaging and characterisation of macromolecular chain structures
The real world applications of these fundamental investigations span a number of fields, from use as inks and photoresists in 3D printing and lithography to precisely folded single strand polymers for catalysis and biomimetic applications and everything in between.
Latest Publications
Near Infrared Light Induced Radical Polymerization in Water
First Principles for the First Steps in Multiphoton 3D Laser Printing: Quantum-Mechanical Case Study of DETC
Tuning the Photoreactivity of Photocycloaddition by Halochromism
Members
Distinguished Prof. Christopher Barner-Kowollik
ARC Laureate Fellow, Deputy Vice Chancellor Research (DVCR) and Vice President
A/Prof. James Blinco
Head of the Soft Matter Materials Laboratory, Associate Professor
We’ve partnered with 156 institutions & 26 countries.
Tweets
Imagine a cured 3D printing ink that is removable simply by darkness. Sounds like science fiction? No more! Check out Steve Gauci's brilliant work https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adfm.202206303 @HouckHannes @Filip_Du_Prez @EvaBlascoPo @blinco_james @Cluster3DMM2O @QUTmaterials @KITKarlsruhe
The European Polymer Federation Congress @EPF2022 soon to start in beautiful sunny Prague. Thank you very much for inviting me. Having a pre-conference walk through the old town with #legendsofpolychem Nikos Hadjichristidis @QUT @QUTmaterials @KITKarlsruhe
3We have had a close look at the photochemistry of dimethyl dialdehydes, an important functionality for light induced material design https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.joc.2c01020 Outstanding work @FlorianFeist1 @Cluster3DMM2O @KITKarlsruhe @QUT @QUTmaterials