Laure Kayser
Assistant Professor
Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Email: lkayser@udel.edu
Phone: (302) 831-2284
310 DuPont Hall
Biosketch
Prof. Laure Kayser did her undergraduate studies and M.Sc. in Chemistry and Supramolecular Chemistry at the University of Strasbourg in France. She then obtained her Ph.D. at McGill University in Canada working with Prof. Bruce Arndtsen on multicomponent polymerization of pi-conjugated polymers. She arrived in the United States for her post-doc in NanoEngineering at the University of California San Diego with Prof. Darren Lipomi working on stretchable electronics. Prof. Kayser started her independent faculty career at the University of Delaware (UD) in 2019, where her group uses innovative synthetic chemistry applied to solving problems in human health and sustainability. At UD, Prof. Kayser is the co-director of professional development of the NSF Research Traineeship in Computing and Data Science Training for Materials Innovation, Discovery, and AnalyticS (NRT-MIDAS), a faculty advisor for the Alpha Chi Sigma professional fraternity, and a mentor and steering committee member for the NIH-funded Chemistry-Biology Interface (CBI) graduate training program.
Awards
American Chemical Society (ACS) PMSE Early Investigator (2024)
ACS Polymers Au Rising Star (2023)
Beckman Young Investigator (2023)
USNC/IUPAC Young Observer (2023)
National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER award (2023)
Invited participant at the Grainger Frontiers of Engineering (2023)
Invited participant at the Arab-American Frontiers Symposium (2023)
ACS PRF Doctoral New Investigator award (2022)
University of Delaware Research Foundation award (2022)
Research Interests
The Kayser Laboratory is highly interdisciplinary and collaborative, at the intersection of organic chemistry, polymer synthesis, organic electronics, and materials and device engineering. We develop innovative synthetic approaches and designs for polymeric materials, in particular polyelectrolytes and (semi)conducting polymers, that can address challenges in human health (sensing, bioelectronics, haptics) and sustainability (energy storage, plastic upcycling).
We use the toolbox of modern synthetic chemistry (photocatalysis, C-H activation, controlled radical polymerization, supramolecular chemistry) to control and study both the chemical structure and solid-state assembly of organic electronics from the molecular- to the macro-scale. Our group currently focuses on five main areas of research: (1) Electrically-conductive hydrogels for wearable and implantable electronics; (2) Organic mixed ionic-electronic conductors for biosensing; (3) Upgrading plastic waste to functional polymeric materials; (4) Materials for tactile interfaces; and (5) Treating osteoarthritis.
Representative Publications
- D.M. Nguyen, C.-Y. Lo, T. Guo, T. Choi, S. Sundar, Z. Swain, Y. Wu, C. Dhong, L.V. Kayser*, “One Pot Photomediated Formation of Electrically Conductive Hydrogels” ACS Polymers Au, 2024, 4, 34.
- C-Y. Lo, Y. Wu, E. Awuyah, D. Meli, D.M. Nguyen, R. Wu, B. Xu, J. Strzalka, J. Rivnay, D. Martin, L. Kayser*, “Influence of the Molecular Weight and Size Distribution of PSS on Mixed Ionic-Electronic Transport in PEDOT:PSS” Polym. Chem. 2022, 13, 2707.
- C-Y. Lo, K. P. Koutsoukos, D. M. Nguyen, Y. Wu, D. A. Angel Trujillo, T. Miller, T. Shrestha, E. Mackey, V. S. Damani, U. Kanbur, R. Opila, D. C. Martin, D. Kaphan, L. V. Kayser*, “Imidazolium-Based Sulfonating Agent to Control the Degree of Sulfonation of Aromatic Polymers and Enable Plastics-to-Electronics Upgrading” JACS Au, 2024, 4, 7, 2596–2605.
- L. K. G. Ackerman-Biegasiewicz, D. M. Arias-Rotondo, K. F. Biegasiewicz, E. Elacqua*, M. R. Golder, L. V. Kayser, J. R. Lamb, C. M. Le, N. A. Romero, S. M. Wilkerson-Hill, and D. A. Williams, “Organic Chemistry: a Retrosynthetic Approach to a Diverse Field” ACS Cent. Sci. 2020, 6, 11, 1845.