Research areas
Dr. Mutian Hua received his PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles, and was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. His research focuses on understanding the connections between the structures of soft materials and their novel properties. By harnessing the structural-property relationships in polymers through molecular and structural engineering, and using advanced characterization techniques across multiple length scales, his work aims to resolve conflicting design principles to integrate diverse properties in advanced materials for applications in consumer, biomedical, and robotic soft materials.
B.S., Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology
M.S., Computer Science, The University of Texas at Austin
Ph.D., Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles
Autumn 2026 Admissions: Mutian Hua will be accepting graduate students for the 2026-27 school year.
Students interested in sustainable polymers, tough hydrogels, additive manufacturing and AI for science are encouraged to apply.
Courses
- SBSE 391 | Engineering Principles of Biorefineries (5) - Autumn
- SBSE 392 | Bioresource Transport Phenomena (5) - Winter
- SBSE 426 | Bioresource Laboratory I (5) - Spring
Selected publications
Hua, M., Peng, Z., Guha, R., Ruan, X., Ng, K. C., Demarteau, J., … & Helms, B. (2024). Mechanochemically Accelerated Deconstruction of Chemically Recyclable Plastics. Science Advances.
Neidhart, E. K., Hua, M., Peng, Z., Kearney, L. T., Bhat, V., Vashahi, F., … & Leibfarth, F. A. (2023). C–H functionalization of polyolefins to access reprocessable polyolefin thermosets. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 145(50), 27450-27458.
Zhao, Y., Hua, M., Yan, Y., Wu, S., Alsaid, Y., & He, X. (2022). Stimuli-responsive polymers for soft robotics. Annual Review of Control, Robotics, and Autonomous Systems, 5(1), 515-545.
Xu, R., Hua, M., Wu, S., Ma, S., Zhang, Y., Zhang, L., … & Zhou, F. (2022). Continuously growing multi-layered hydrogel structures with seamless interlocked interface. Matter, 5(2), 634-653.
Hua, M., Wu, S., Ma, Y., Zhao, Y., Chen, Z., Frenkel, I., … & He, X. (2021). Strong tough hydrogels via the synergy of freeze-casting and salting out. Nature, 590(7847), 594-599.
Wu, S., Hua, M., Alsaid, Y., Du, Y., Ma, Y., Zhao, Y., … & He, X. (2021). Poly (vinyl alcohol) hydrogels with broad‐range tunable mechanical properties via the Hofmeister effect. Advanced Materials, 33(11), 2007829.
Hua, M., Wu, S., Jin, Y., Zhao, Y., Yao, B., & He, X. (2021). Tough‐hydrogel reinforced low‐tortuosity conductive networks for stretchable and high‐performance supercapacitors. Advanced Materials, 33(26), 2100983.
Hua, M., Kim, C., Du, Y., Wu, D., Bai, R., & He, X. (2021). Swaying gel: Chemo-mechanical self-oscillation based on dynamic buckling. Matter, 4(3), 1029-1041.
Hua, M., Wu, D., Wu, S., Ma, Y., Alsaid, Y., & He, X. (2020). 4D printable tough and thermoresponsive hydrogels. ACS applied materials & interfaces, 13(11), 12689-12697.
Ma, Y., Hua, M., Wu, S., Du, Y., Pei, X., Zhu, X., … & He, X. (2020). Bioinspired high-power-density strong contractile hydrogel by programmable elastic recoil. Science advances, 6(47), eabd2520.