PhD in Chemistry - Materials Chemistry in Riverside United States | University of California, Riverside

UCR's materials chemistry program emphasizes creating, synthesizing, and analyzing novel functional materials while uncovering the core chemical principles behind their production, studying their characteristics, and discovering their specialized uses. Participants in this program gain interdisciplinary research skills through partnerships across engineering, physics, and biological sciences. The university's materials chemistry research encompasses diverse material types such as molecular structures (Bardeen, Bocian), polymers (Cheng), solid-state compounds (Feng, Haddon, Ozkan, Yin), colloidal systems (Tang, Yin), and composite/hybrid materials (Haddon, Tang, Yin). These materials are engineered across various scales—from molecular to nano- and micro-dimensions—frequently appearing as nanocrystals, thin films, or porous architectures. Research prioritizes specialized applications in fields like sensing and actuation (Bardeen, Bartels, Cheng), electronic and photonic components (Bartels, Bocian, Haddon, Tang, Yin), and catalytic/energy solutions (Bardeen, Feng, Ozkan, Yin, Zaera). Several teams are pioneering advanced characterization techniques to examine material formation and properties (Bartels, Zaera, Y. Zhang). The Beran group employs computational methods to forecast chemical interactions in gases and solids. Numerous faculty members hold dual roles in the Materials Science and Engineering Program at Bourns College of Engineering. The Chemistry Department houses the Center for Nanoscale Science and Engineering, featuring cutting-edge nanofabrication capabilities. Explore the links below for additional details about UCR's Materials Chemistry research.