Congrats to Ivan Jayapurna for winning Best Presentation Award in ACS fall 2023 for his presentation "Stochastic Simulation of Raft Heteropolymerization Kinetics & Sequences"
Welcome to the Xu Group
We work on designing, characterizing and understanding complex systems of synthetic polymers, nanoparticles and biomolecules to develop new functional materials that exhibit novel electronic, photonic, and biological properties.
Join Us
We are a diverse, interdisciplinary group at the University of California Berkeley. Our members have backgrounds and research interests ranging across the fields of materials science, chemistry, biology, mechanical engineering and computing.
We are always looking for talented and motivated graduate students and postdoctoral researchers to join the group. Interested applicants, please send a copy of your CV to Prof. Xu. Interested undergraduate students should reach out to a postdoctoral researcher or graduate student you would be interested in working with!
Recent Publications
[117] Z. Ruan, S. Li, A. Grigoropoulos, H. Amiri, S. L. Hilburg, H. Chen, I. Jayapurna, T. Jiang, Z. Gu, A. Alexander-Katz, C. Bustamante, H. Huang & T. Xu Population-based heteropolymer design to mimic protein mixtures. Nature. (2023)
[116] I. Jayapurna, Z. Ruan, M. Eres, P. Jalagam, S. Jenkins, & T. Xu. Sequence Design of Random Heteropolymers as Protein Mimics. Biomacromolecules. (2023)
[112] E. Vargo*, J. C. Dahl*, K. M. Evans*, T. Khan, P. Alivisatos, & T. Xu. Using Machine Learning to Predict and Understand Complex Self-Assembly Behaviors of a Multicomponent Nanocomposite. Advanced Materials. (2022): 2203168.
[111] J. Kwon, C. DelRe, P. Kang, A. Hall, D. Arnold, I. Jayapurna, L. Ma, M. Michalek, R. O. Ritchie, & T. Xu. Conductive Ink with Circular Life Cycle for Printed Electronics. Advanced Materials. (2022).
Popular Press
Can Synthetic Polymers Replace the Body’s Natural Proteins? || Berkeley News (3/20/2023)
Scientists demonstrate a biodegradable printed circuit || LBL News Center (8/29/2022)
Video: How to make plastic truly biodegradable || Berkeley News (8/30/2021)
Video: Can We Create a Truly Biodegradable Plastic? || PBS Nova (8/19/2021)
Enzymes wait to strike in novel biodegradable plastics || Materials Today (4/30/2021)
New process makes "biodegradable" plastics truly compostable || UC Berkeley News (4/21/2021)
Plastics with embedded particles decompose in days instead of years || C&EN (4/21/2021)
A new technique could make some plastic trash compostable at home || ScienceNews (4/21/2021)
Plastic bags may have just become almost totally compostable || The Academic Times (4/21/2021)
Group News
Tiffany received the Outstanding Graduate Student Award at MRS Spring 2023 meeting, Congrats Tiffany!
Congratulations to our most recent alumni: Drs. Zhiyuan Ruan, Emma Vargo, Mufeng Wei and Yiwen Qian. We'll miss you all!
Congrats to Alexandra for receiving the NSF GRFP!