Seonghyeon Park

Development of a New Class of “Spiky” Particles

My research focuses on developing a new class of biopolymer-based “spiky” particles using polymer-driven interactions and morphology-control strategies. By using sustainable materials such as agar and agarose, I aim to fabricate particles with high effective volume, high surface area, and tunable core–branch structures.

This project investigates how different polymer interactions govern particle formation and how processing conditions can be used to control particle morphology. These spiky particles are designed to function as sustainable, bio-based rheology modifiers for low-surfactant cleansing products, personal-care formulations, and other aqueous systems.

Beyond cleansing and personal-care products, these particles may also be used in home-care, food, pharmaceutical, biomedical, filtration, encapsulation, emulsion stabilization, composite, and 3D-printing applications.

With rapid formation, simple processing, tunable morphology, strong viscosity enhancement, and scalability, my work provides a versatile platform for designing sustainable functional particles.

Highly Branched Conductive Particles 

My research also explores the development of highly branched conductive particles and fiber-based materials with tunable morphology, high surface area, and interconnected conductive pathways. The goal is to design functional soft-material structures that combine electrical conductivity, processability, and structural versatility.These highly branched conductive structures have potential applications in wearable electronics, flexible strain and pressure sensors, biomedical electrodes, soft robotics, conductive hydrogels, polymer composites, energy-storage devices, and EMI shielding.