Jerry Scheinbeim 

Professor II and Member of the Graduate Faculty

The study of electroactive polymers, i.e., the ferroelectric, piezoelectric, pyroelectric, dielectric and electrostrictive properties of polymers, is both an important and exciting area of scientific inquiry. In the Polymer Electroprocessing Laboratory of the Department of chemical and Biochemical Engineering, we have discovered the importance of electroprocessing the thermal, mechanical, chemical and electric field history of a polymer to a polymers ability to express desired electroactive properties. This approach allows us to develop the structure-electroactive properties relationships in these materials and has led to several important discoveries and patents, including: 

1. The direct oriented crystallization from solution of a ferroelectric polymer under high electric fields. 
2. The discovery of the second known class of ferroelectric polymers  the odd and odd-odd numbered nylons. 
3. The creation of a new type of composite ferroelectric material, a bilaminate, made from the two known classes of ferroelectric polymers (polyvinylidene fluoride and nylon 11). Interfacial effects result in a large enhancement in piezoelectric response. 
4. The discovery of the enormous electrostrictive response available in certain polyurethane thermoplastic elastomers. 

These discoveries, along with investigations of the significant piezoelectric response of bovine and human sclera  a collagen hydrogel  and the study of the effect of moisture on the piezoelectric properties of the nylons, have led to important applications in the areas of smart materials and sensors. 

Dept. of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, 98 Brett Road
Piscataway, NJ 08854-8058
Phone: (732) 445-2228 Fax: (732) 445-2581