Responsible global stewardship necessitates the efficient use of our natural resources. Unfortunately, the global binge on petrochemicals for energy and materials remains relentless. To take aim at this unsustainable path, we are pursuing materials solutions to energy-wasteful gas separations and the pervasive problem of plastic waste. Our longterm goal is to re-imagine energy and materials lifecycles throughout the chemical sector.

Selected publications:
He, C.; Christensen, P. R.; Seguin, T. J.; Dailing, E. A.; Wood, B. M.; Walde, R. K.; Persson, K. A.; Russell, T. P.; Helms, B. A. “Conformational Entropy as a Means to Control the Behavior of Poly(diketoenamine) Vitrimers In and Out of Equilibrium” Angew Chem. Int. Ed. 2019, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201912223. [pdf]

Christensen, P. R.; Scheuermann, A. M.; Loeffler, K. E.; Helms. B. A. “Closed-loop recycling of plastics enabled by dynamic covalent diketoenamine bonds” Nat. Chem. 2019, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41557-019-0249-2 [pdf]

Helms, B. A.; Russell, T. P. “Reaction: Polymer Chemistries Enabling Cradle-to-Cradle Life Cycles for Plastics” Chem 2016, 1, 813–819. [pdf]

Li, C.; Meckler, S. M.; Smith, Z. P.; Bachman, J. E.; Maserati, L.; Long, J. R.; Helms, B. A. “Engineered Transport in Microporous Materials and Membranes for Clean Energy Technologies” Adv. Mater. 2018, ASAP, DOI: 10.1002/adma.201704953. [pdf]

Maserati, L.; Meckler, S. M.; Bachman, J. E.; Long, J. R.; Helms, B. A. “Diamine-Appended Mg₂(dobpdc) Nanorods as Phase-Change Fillers in Mixed-Matrix Membranes for Efficient CO₂/N₂ Separations” Nano Lett. 2017, 17, 6828–6832. [pdf]