Education

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

Honors and Awards

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

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

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

Lokupitiya, H. N.; Stefik, M. "Cavitation-Enabled Rapid and Tunable Evolution of High-χN Micelles as Templates for Ordered Mesoporous Oxides." Nanoscale 2017, 9, 1393-1397. DOI: 10.1039/c6nr07313a.

Lokupitiya, H. N.; Jones, A.; Reid, B.; Guldin, S.; Stefik M.  "Ordered Mesoporous to Macroporous Oxides with Tunable Isomorphic Architectures – Solution Criteria for Persistent Micelle Templates." Chemistry of Materials 2016, 28(6), 1653-1667. DOI:  10.1021/acs.chemmater.5b04407.