About

The UChicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (UChicago PME) is at the forefront of engineering and science related to materials systems, addressing challenges and technological issues that have a major impact on humanity and quality of life.

In the Institute for Materials and Sustainability (IMS), you’ll collaborate with our team of internationally recognized materials scientists and soft matter engineers to understand and design solutions in energy, natural resources, and environmental sustainability.

Groundbreaking Research Areas

IMS students and faculty are pushing the boundaries of what materials can do — from foundational discovery to transformative, real-world impact. Grounded in cutting-edge synthesis, electrochemistry, characterization, theory, and computational design, their research spans soft matter, biomaterials, and inorganic systems, encompassing polymers, self-assembled structures, stimuli-responsive materials, nanoparticles, 2D materials, MOFs, liquid crystals, and hybrid composites. United by a commitment to sustainability, their work targets the defining challenges of our time — clean water, renewable energy, resource recovery, and a circular materials economy.

At the intersection of artificial intelligence and materials science, the IMS in collaboration with Argonne National Laboratory, is redefining how we discover and deploy sustainable materials. AI-guided autonomous laboratories — including advanced platforms like Polybot — accelerate synthesis and analysis across a sweeping research agenda: next-generation batteries, flexible electronics, circular polymers, and carbon capture technologies. Researchers are engineering novel porous materials to trap greenhouse gases, designing direct air capture filters, and developing pathways to convert CO₂ into useful industrial feedstocks. At the same time, the institute is tackling the global water challenge — recovering critical materials like lithium, uranium, phosphorus, and rare earth elements while eliminating toxic contaminants including lead and PFAS from various water and wastewater sources[, such as seawater and industrial waste streams].

The IMS is also driving the global energy transition through safer, more sustainable battery systems built on earth-abundant materials. Energy-related research spans organic thermoelectric materials and the precise organization and assembly of ion-containing polymers — advancing the fundamental science that underpins next-generation energy storage and conversion. In parallel, researchers are shaping the future of information technology by weaving together molecular design, nanomaterials, and computation to advance bioelectronics, microelectronics, sensors, and sustainable polymer electronics — including neuromorphic and low-power applications. Together, these innovations are delivering the energy-efficient hardware that the era of artificial intelligence and intelligent robotics demands.