Mingjiang Zhong
Research Interests
Research
The research conducted in the Zhong group relies on interdisciplinary applications of polymer science and engineering, synthetic and physical chemistry, catalysis, and materials characterization to address challenges in global health and sustainability. In particular, (macro)molecular design, site-specific modification, and precision characterization are used as tools to solve challenging limitations in these fields, yield basic knowledge of structure-property relationships for materials in specific applications, and generate next-generation materials. Current research interests are centered in: (1) developing scalable methods for the preparation of functional organic and hybrid materials; (2) applying polymeric and polymer-derived carbon materials for energy and environmental applications; (3) combining sophisticated molecular design and analysis techniques to understand complex soft matter behaviors.
Education
B.S. Peking University, 2008
Ph.D. Carnegie Mellon University, 2013
Postdoctoral Fellow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2013–2016
Honors
National Science Foundation CAREER Award, 2019
ACS PMSE Young Investigator, 2019
ACS Petroleum Research Fund Doctoral New Investigator, 2017
Guy C. Berry Graduate Research Award, Carnegie Mellon University, 2013
Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Self-Financed Students Abroad, 2013
ACS POLY Award for Excellence in Graduate Polymer Research, ACS Polymer Division, 2013
Astrid and Bruce McWilliams Fellowship, Carnegie Mellon University, 2012
Recent Publications
Li, F.; Cao, M.; Feng, Y.; Liang, R.; Fu, X.; Zhong, M., Site-Specifically Initiated Controlled/Living Branching Radical Polymerization: A Synthetic Route Toward Hierarchically Branched Architectures. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2019, 141, 794–799.
Guo, Z.-H.; Le, A. N.; Feng, X.; Choo, Y.; Liu, B.; Wang, D.; Wan, Z.; Gu, Y.; Zhao, J.; Li, V.; Osuji, C.; Johnson, J. A.; Zhong, M., Janus Graft Block Copolymers: Design of Polymer Architecture for Independently Tuned Nanostructures and Polymer Properties. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2018, 57, 8493–8497.
Zhong, M.; Wang, R.; Kawamoto, K.; Olsen, B. D.; Johnson, J. A., Quantifying the Impact of Molecular Defects on Polymer Network Elasticity. Science 2016, 353, 1264–1268.
Kawamoto, K.; Zhong, M.; Gadelrab, K. R.; Cheng, L.-C.; Ross, C. A.; Alexander-Katz, A.; Johnson, J. A., Graft-through Synthesis and Assembly of Janus Bottlebrush Polymers from A-branch-B Diblock Macromonomers. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2016, 138, 11501–11504.
Chen, M.; Zhong, M.; Johnson, J. A., Photo-mediated and Photo-Catalyzed Living Polymerizations. Chem. Rev. 2016, 116, 10167–10211.
Zhukhovitskiy, A. V.; Zhong, M.; Keeler, E. G.; Michaelis, V. K.; Sun, J. E.P.; Hore, M. J. A.; Pochan, D. J.; Griffin, R. G.; Willard, A. P.; Johnson, J. A., Highly Branched and Loop-rich Gels via Formation of Metal-organic Cages Linked by Polymers. Nature Chem. 2016, 8, 33–41.