Gregory Doerk
Materials Scientist, Electronic Nanomaterials, Center for Functional Nanomaterials

Brookhaven National Laboratory
Center for Functional Nanomaterials
Bldg. 735
P.O. Box 5000
Upton, NY 11973-5000
(631) 344-7370
gdoerk@bnl.gov
Preferred Gender Pronouns (PGPs): he, him, his
Expertise | Research | Education | Appointments | Publications | Highlights | Awards
Expertise
- Self-assembly
- Block copolymers
- Nanofabrication
- Reactive ion etching
- Combinatorial experimentation
Research Activities
Greg’s research aims to direct the self-assembly of polymers and use them to synthesize new materials with tailored nano-architectures for optical, chemical, and energy applications. Special focus is given to developing combinatorial, high-throughput, and adaptive experimental methods that will help integrate self-assembly into scalable and cost-effective processes for materials manufacturing.
Education
- B.S.: Case Western Reserve University, 2005
- Major: Chemical Engineering
- Ph.D.: University of California, Berkeley
- Chemical Engineering
- Dissertation Title: Synthesis, Characterization, and Integration of Silicon Nanowires for Nanosystems Technology
Professional Appointments
- Staff Scientist, Center for Functional Nanomaterials, Brookhaven National Laboratory, 2015 – present
- Research Staff Member, HGST, a Western Digital Co., 2013-2015
- Postdoctoral Researcher, IBM Research – Almaden, 2010-2013
Selected Publications
- Doerk GS, Stein A, Bae S, et al (2023) Autonomous discovery of emergent morphologies in directed self-assembly of block copolymer blends. Science Advances 9:. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.add3687
- Russell ST, Bae S, Subramanian A, et al (2022) Priming self-assembly pathways by stacking block copolymers. Nature Communications 13:. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-34729-0
- Kulkarni AA, Doerk GS (2022) Hierarchical, Self-Assembled Metasurfaces via Exposure-Controlled Reflow of Block Copolymer-Derived Nanopatterns. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 14:27466–27475. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.2c05911
- Toth K, Bae S, Osuji CO, et al (2021) Film Thickness and Composition Effects in Symmetric Ternary Block Copolymer/Homopolymer Blend Films: Domain Spacing and Orientation. Macromolecules 54:7970–7986. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.macromol.1c01032
- Doerk GS, Li R, Fukuto M, Yager KG (2020) Wet Brush Homopolymers as "Smart Solvents" for Rapid, Large Period Block Copolymer Thin Film Self-Assembly. Macromolecules 53:1098–1113. doi: 10.1021/acs.macromol.9b02296
- Noack MM, Yager KG, Fukuto M, Doerk GS, Li R, Sethian JA (2019) A Kriging-Based Approach to Autonomous Experimentation with Applications to X-Ray Scattering. Scientific Reports. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-48114-3
- Subramanian A, Doerk G, Kisslinger K, Yi DH, Grubbs RB, Nam C-Y (2019) Three-dimensional electroactive ZnO nanomesh directly derived from hierarchically self-assembled block copolymer thin films. Nanoscale 11:9533–9546. doi: 10.1039/c9nr00206e
- Doerk GS, Yager KG (2017) Rapid Ordering in "Wet Brush" Block Copolymer/Homopolymer Ternary Blends. ACS Nano 11:12326–12336. doi: 10.1021/acsnano.7b06154
- Rahman A, Majewski PW, Doerk G, Black CT, Yager KG (2016) Non-native three-dimensional block copolymer morphologies. Nature Communications. doi: 10.1038/ncomms13988
- Stein A, Wright G, Yager KG, et al (2016) Selective directed self-assembly of coexisting morphologies using block copolymer blends. Nature Communications 7:. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms12366
Research Highlights
AI Discovers New Nanostructures Using X-rays
Unlocking a Diversity of Self-Assembled Nanostructures by Layering
High-throughput Maps of Polymer Self-Assembly
Catching Light with 3D Hybrid Nanostructures
Nanodiamonds Shine with Single Photons
Catching Light with Zinc Oxide Nanomesh Sensors
Artificial Intelligence for Smarter & Faster Research
Small Polymers Can Have a Big Impact on Self-Assembly
Mixing the Right Blend Speeds Up Polymer Self-Assembly
Tricking Self-Assembly into Creating New Shapes
Press:
AI Discovers New Nanostructures
Automatically Steering Experiments Toward Scientific Discovery
Exploring Blended Materials Along Compositional Gradients
Building a Printing Press for New Quantum Materials
Accelerating the Self-Assembly of Nanoscale Patterns for Next-Generation Materials
Smarter Self-assembly Opens New Pathways for Nanotechnology
Awards & Recognition
2021 DOE Early Career Research Program award recipient

Brookhaven National Laboratory
Center for Functional Nanomaterials
Bldg. 735
P.O. Box 5000
Upton, NY 11973-5000
(631) 344-7370
gdoerk@bnl.gov