Brett Helms
@bretthelms.bsky.social
Chemist and Senior Scientist @ Berkeley Lab. Entrepreneur @ Sepion Technologies & Cyklos Materials. Dog dad to Abraham, the Frenchie.
Join our team! We are seeking postdoc candidates interested in pioneering all-organic batteries in partnership with the Energy Storage Research Alliance. @berkeleylab.lbl.gov @molecularfoundry.lbl.gov @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social Apply here: phxc1b.rfer.us/LBLQjvHHo
Just out in @natbiotech.nature.com! PKS-engineered route to chiral monomers for PDKs: tunable Tg and programmable depolymerization, all from corn stover. Cheaper & lower-GHG than dimedone. Biosynthesis meets circular plastics. @molecularfoundry.lbl.gov @jbei.lbl.gov www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Engineered polyketide synthases enable a microbial chassis for recyclable plastics with tunable properties - Nature Biotechnology
Polyketide synthases are engineered for the production of sustainable plastics.
nature.com
Our beloved Abraham is no longer with us. He was the bravest strongest soul. We will not be the same without him, we were better because of him. We will always love him.
Just out in @science.org Advances! Evolutionary biologists use punctuated equilibrium to describe systems that appear stable for long periods before undergoing rapid, transformative change. We find battery interfaces behave similarly; insights from OMICS.
Just out in Science Advances! We create co-continuous blend architectures from diverse polyolefins using PDK chemistry, revealing in stride how microstructures within each phase communicate and align. Fantastic properties relevant to plastics recycling. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
That's a wrap ACS Atlanta! It was an honor to accept the Henry H. Storch Award for Energy Chemistry, Glenn Award for Best Paper Presented at an ACS National Meeting, and deliver the PMSE/POLY Joint Division Plenary Talk to celebrate all of the amazing talent in the community.
My husband told me that designing my ACS talk around Julia Sugarbaker's quintessential Miss Georgia World monologue from Designing Women would fall short of connecting with the audience. What do you think? youtu.be/Latj4SAu0Ps?...
The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia! | Designing Women
YouTube video by Throwback TV Clips
youtu.be
Join us in A401 - Georgia World Congress Center 8AM-12PM for a fantastic line up in energy materials: Delia Milliron, Joaquín Rodríguez-Lopez, Yan Yao, Wei Wang, Yet-Ming Chiang, Kristin Persson and myself. #acs
Exclusive: ASML says next-gen EUV tools ready to mass-produce chips, marking key shift for AI chip production reut.rs/4qXJRKM
Exclusive: ASML says next-gen EUV tools ready to mass-produce chips, marking key shift for AI chip production
ASML Holding's next-generation chipmaking machine is ready for manufacturers to start bringing it into use for production at high volumes, a senior executive told Reuters, a big step for the chip industry.
reut.rs
Just out in @pnas.org! We use nanoparticle-surfactants to create droplet interface bilayers with nanopores, enabling memristive ionic conduction, size-/charge-selective transport, and neuromorphic plasticity. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Just out in @chemicalscience.rsc.org ! We use NMR relaxometry to explore the microstructure of upcycled HDPE, wherein we find amidyl groups confined to the rigid amorphous phase. pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a...
Microstructure of amide-functionalized polyethylenes determined by NMR relaxometry
Amidation of polyethylenes creates a range of amide-containing materials with enhanced properties, but the effect of these functional groups on the microstructure of these new materials is not known. ...
pubs.rsc.org
Just out in ACS Energy Letters! We showcase thermoformable organo ionic conductors with high Na+ conductivity in solid-state sodium metal batteries with organic cathodes. @departmentofenergy.bsky.social ESRA Hub funded. pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
Precision patterning at the nanoscale is critical to advancing the manufacturing of microelectronic devices. Here, we provide a perspective, spanning conventional and hyper-NA EUV lithography. @berkeleylab.lbl.gov www.spiedigitallibrary.org/conference-p...
Exciting opportunity to join @berkeleylab.lbl.gov @molecularfoundry.lbl.gov as a Scientific Engineering Associate, focusing on self-driving labs. Link below: lbl.taleo.net/careersectio...
Instrumentation and Automation Scientific Engineering Associate in Bay Area, California, United States
Molecular Foundry is seeking an enthusiastic and skilled Instrumentation and Automation Scientific Engineering Associate to join our team. As a...
lbl.taleo.net
Just out in Science Advances! Sophia Fricke and the Reimer Lab lead our collab study on plastics deconstruction, extracting fractal surface dimensionality and reaction wavefront velocity, properties inaccessible with standard diffusion measurements. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Mapping structures and dynamics with frequency-correlated diffusion exchange
Correlated diffusion spectra uncover the role of network topology in molecular exchange across complex soft materials.
science.org
It's with profound sadness to announce the passing of Michel Fouré--a great mentor and friend. Here's a photo of us in 2015, when we were exploring lab-to-market transitions for our microporous polymer membranes, leading to the creation of Sepion Technologies
Congress is considering a budget request that proposes slashing the federal science agencies by up to 50%. These cuts would devastate UC by cutting off funding for critical research and innovation. Join us 👉 tell Congress to invest in science: https://bit.ly/467ldiL #SpeakUp4Science #StandUpforUC
Humbled to receive the Henry H. Storch Award in Energy Chemistry from @acs.org. I have had the privilege of mentoring early career scientists and working with outstanding collaborators, which has contributed to my passion and drive. See you in Atlanta at the Spring ACS! cen.acs.org/people/award...
ACS announces 2026 national award winners
The winners are being acknowledged for their outstanding achievements in chemistry across various fields in the discipline
cen.acs.org
Just out in @jacs.acspublications.org! We demonstrate resin-to-resin circularity in cycloolefin resins crosslinked with DCPD. Catalyst choice, co-monomers, post-processing of 3D printed and conventional parts dictate efficacy and bounds for regeneration. pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
Resin-to-Resin Circularity in Chemical Recycling of Dicyclopentadiene-Based Cycloolefin Resins
Cycloolefin resins (CORs) comprising dicyclopentadiene (DCPD) cross-linkers are high performance thermosets for diverse single-use applications. If it were possible to carry out deconstruction of DCPD thermosets through exclusive reformation of the cyclopentene ring in DCPD, then linear polyDCPD chains could re-enter subsequent manufacturing cycles and enable resin-to-resin circularity. Here, we develop a chemical recycling process whereby linear polyDCPD recyclates are generated from end-of-life commercial and model CORs, including copolymers, using a second-generation Hoveyda–Grubbs ruthenium(II) alkylidene catalyst for deconstruction via ring-closing metathesis. The properties of first-generation DCPD thermosets were reproduced across subsequent generations of recycling and reuse, where up to 84% of linear DCPD was retrievable from end-of-life thermosets after deconstruction. We further quantify how comonomer incorporation, the curing process, and aging affect round-trip material efficiency and the quality of regenerated thermosets.
pubs.acs.org
Saddened to hear of the passing of luminary scientist, Gabor Somorjai. With Gabor, @berkeleylab.lbl.gov has led the way in understanding materials through their surfaces, be that structure, dynamics, sorption, and transformations relevant to energy applications. He will be missed.
Just out in ACS Energy Letters! We demosntrate electrochemical Li+ enrichment in mixed-cation brines with antiselective cation-exchange PIM membranes. Collab with Mike Baird, Ryan Kingsbury, Gan Chen, Mike Whittaker @molecularfoundry.lbl.gov, ALS, Princeton University pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10....
Excited to have Linda Nazar at @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social College of Chemistry this afternoon for @basf.bsky.social Lecture.
We're hiring a postdoc to join our @berkeleylab.lbl.gov @molecularfoundry.lbl.gov plastics recycling team. Scope will include developing new reactions for selective functionalization of polyolefins, assessing properties and recyclability. phxc1b.rfer.us/LBLHM2EPD
Postdoctoral Researcher in Sustainable Polymer Chemistry in Bay Area, California, United States
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab’s (LBNL) Materials Science Division (MSD) has an opening for an Organic and Polymer Postdoctoral Fellow where Dr....
phxc1b.rfer.us
Always great to see group alumni on the stage, shining. Elise Goldfine talks about next gen generation at day 2 fast pitches. #arpae25
Deleting data from websites amounts to a digital dark age
Portuguese editorial cartoonist Zez Vaz reaches back to Tiananmen Square to call on American defiance.
Just out in Science Advances @science.org! Chemical recycling of plastics to monomer accelerated through oxy-functionalization remote from the bond undergoing cleavage. Polymer conformation plays dominant role. @molecularfoundry.bsky.social @berkeleylab.lbl.gov www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Circularity in polydiketoenamine thermoplastics via control over reactive chain conformation
Controlling polymer chain conformation dictates reactivity and recyclability.
science.org
Celebrating Mike Baird’s graduation. PhD #6 ! They don’t have advisors hood PhD students during the Fall ceremony, so no regalia for me today, so I wore something festive
