Christopher Evans
Associate Professor
Primary Affiliation
Artificial Intelligence for MaterialsAffiliations
Status Part-time Faculty
Home Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Phone 300-9949
Email cme365@illinois.edu
Address 3261 Beckman Institute, 405 North Mathews Avenue
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Biography
Education
B.S., Chemistry, University of Minnesota, 2008
BChE, University of Minnesota, 2008
PhD, Northwestern University, 2013
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Honors
2022: ACS PMSE Young Investigator Award
2020: 3M Non-tenured Faculty Award
2018: NSF CAREER Award
2017: American Chemical Society: Petroleum Research Fund Doctoral New Investigator
2012: AkzoNobel Award Winner
2010: 3M Fellowship
2010: Ryan Fellowship
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Research
Research Interests
Polymer Physics, Diffusion, Energy Materials, Nanoscale and Interfacial Physics
Research Areas
Polymers
The Evans group is interested in probing the physics of polymer networks with the incorporation of dynamic covalent bonds and added salts. We are pursuing a fundamental understanding of polymer properties such as energy dissipation, self-healing, crystallization, and transport of small molecules through the network. The group combines molecular design of precise polymers with advanced characterization approaches to determine structure-property relationships in dynamic, ionic networks. Application of networks in the group include supercapacitors, actuators, membranes, batteries, and shockwave dissipating polymers which are informed by our fundamental investigations.