Spider silks, mother-of-pearl, cell membranes and tree fibrils are all natural materials with exceptional properties thanks to a combination of molecular order and disorder. Chemists also exploit molecular order to design functional materials such as bullet-proof vests and display devices.

It is in this context that Christian Pellerin and his team fabricate partially ordered molecular materials and study them to understand how to optimize their performance. Their work focuses on highly oriented electrospun fibers, light-induced order in photoactive materials, order in ultrathin films (with Antonella Badia), and amorphous molecular materials that resist ordering. The group specializes in the physicochemical characterization of materials, with particular emphasis on vibrational spectroscopy. On a more applied front, the Pellerin team works with industrial and governmental partners to improve polymer recycling and to create materials useful for national defence.

After completing his PhD at Université Laval and a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Delaware, Christian Pellerin joined the Université de Montréal’s Department of Chemistry in 2005, where he founded his Materials Spectroscopy Laboratory. He is also the director of the LCMP platform (Laboratory for polymer materials characterization).