Education

B.E., 2005, California Polytechnic State University
M.S., 2009, Cornell University
Ph.D., 2010, Cornell University

Honors and Awards

Mungo Undergraduate Teaching Award, University of South Carolina 2023
Inaugural Seminar for Chemical Energy, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin 2022
Emerging Investigator, Royal Society of Chemistry, Soft Matter 2022
Garnet Apple Award for Teaching Innovation, University of South Carolina 2022
Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg Fellow, Delmenhorst and Fraunhofer IFAM 2022
Early Career Scholar, Springer, Journal of Materials Research 2021
American Chemical Society - Polymeric Materials: Science and Engineering Division(ACS-PMSE)
Young Investigator Symposium 2020
NSF CAREER Award 2018
Elected Council Member of the International Mesostructured Materials Association 2018
Breakthrough Star Award, University of South Carolina 2018
Inaugural lecture for SAXS colloquium at University College London 2017
Emerging Investigator, Royal Society of Chemistry, Journal of Materials Chemistry A 2017
Cottrell Scholars Collaborative New Faculty Workshop 2014

Research Interests

Research Areas: Functional nanostructures, energy devices, block polymers, self-assembly, nanoparticles, atomic layer deposition, (photo)electrochemistry.

The Stefik group is developing new polymer derived nanomaterials for energy devices. Our novel self-assembly methods enable nuanced precision by using kinetic-control to escape the tyranny of the equilibrium. Such kinetic-control is historically difficult to reproduce, a challenge that we have resolved with switchable micelle entrapment to yield reproducible and homogeneous nanomaterial series that follow model predictions. Our approach called Persistent Micelle Templates enables seamless access from meso-to-macroporous materials with unprecedented ~2 Å precision of tuning. The resulting high-surface area materials are critical for developing numerous energy applications such as fuel cells, batteries, supercapacitors, photovoltaics, and solar fuels.

Selected Publications

Williams, E. R.; Ruff, C.; Stefik, M. Unimer Suppression Enables Supersaturated Homopolymer Swollen Micelles with Long-Term Stability after Glassy Entrapment. Soft Matter 2024, 20, 2288-2300. DOI: 10.1039/d3sm01754k

Wechsler, S. C.; Gregg, A.; Stefik, M. Highly Reversible Lithiation of Additive Free T-Nb₂O₅ for a Quarter of a Million Cycles. Advanced Functional Materials 2024, 34, 2312839. DOI: 10.1002/adfm.202312839

Larison,T; Williams, E.; Collins, C.; Pingali, S. V.; Stefik, M. Bimodal Rates for Cavitation Induced Chain Exchange Between Micelles. Macromolecules 2023, 56(19), 7818–7826. DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.3c01040

van den Bergh, W.; Stefik, M. "Understanding Rapid Intercalation Materials One Parameter at a Time." Advanced Functional Materials 2022, 32, 2204126, 1-19. DOI: 10.1002/adfm.202204126

Stefik, M. "Single-Variable Porous Nanomaterial Series from Polymer Structure Directing Agents." Journal of Materials Research 2022, 37, 25-42. DOI: 10.1557/s43578-021-00421-0

Larison, T.; Stefik, M. "Persistent Micelle Corona Chemistry Enables Constant Micelle Core Size with Independent Control of Functionality and Polyelectrolyte Response." Langmuir 2021, 37(32), 9817-9825. DOI: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.1c01384