Seth Darling

Seth B. Darling is the director of the Center of Molecular Engineering, a research and development program focusing on advanced materials for cleaning water, quantum information science, and polymer science.Darling is also a senior scientist at both the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering. He also directs the Advanced Materials for Energy-Water Systems (AMEWS) Center, a DOE Energy Frontier Research Center formed in 2018.^[1]

Darling has made fundamental contributions to the development of new materials for energy and water, including hybrid materials for polymer and perovskite solar cells and membrane materials for water filtration. He’s co-created material synthesis techniques that are used commercially, including sequential infiltration synthesis (SIS), which is used to create coatings for semiconductor fabrication, optical surfaces, and reusable oil sorbents..^[2][3][4][5]

Darling has authored two books on water, energy and climate change and is a member of the American Physical Society, American Chemical Society, AVS Science and Technology Society, Materials Research Society, and American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).^[1]

Career and education[edit]

Darling holds a PhD in physical chemistry from the University of Chicago and a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and astronomy from Haverford College.^[1] He completed his postdoctoral studies at Argonne as a Distinguished Glenn Seaborg Fellow before joining the laboratory’s Center for Nanoscale Materials as a staff scientist.^[1] Darling was later promoted to director of the Institute for Molecular Engineering at Argonne, which was subsequently renamed the Center for Molecular Engineering.^[6] In 2018, he became a senior scientist and was named director of the AMEWS Center.^[1]

Darling is also the chief technical officer of Visual Molecules LLC, a position he’s held since 2008.^[1]

Major research contributions[edit]

Solar energy[edit]

Darling has analyzed the behavior, commercial viability, scalability, and ecological impacts of photovoltaic technologies.^[7][8] This work reveals fundamental mechanisms of their operation and provides guidance on which solar energy technologies are sustainable and economical. Much of this work focused on the structure and properties of organic and hybrid materials.^[9][10][11] This includes polymer solar cells and perovskite solar cells.

Water treatment[edit]

Darling has helped design and develop membrane materials and fabrication methods that enhance water filtration and clean up.^[12] Among other things, he has:

• utilized the chemistry inspired by mussels to engineer an artificial adhesive that improves the performance of membranes;^[13][14][15]
• created membranes that can resist fouling and others that clean themselves under visible light illumination;^[16][17]
• developed a way to construct Janus membranes, which could optimize or enable their use in wastewater treatment, biofuel fabrication, and other processes;^[18] and
• co-invented the Oleo Sponge, a foam for cleaning up oil that can adsorb up to 90 times its weight in oil.^[4][19] Darling received an R&D 100 Award in 2017 for this technology.^[20]

Sequential infiltration synthesis (SIS)[edit]

Darling co-invented sequential infiltration synthesis (SIS) with Jeffrey Elam. SIS is a material synthesis technique derived from atomic layer deposition (ALD).^[21] While ALD alternates chemical vapors to grow materials one atomic layer at a time, in SIS the vapor is diffused into the polymer rather than on top of it.

SIS has been used to create coatings for semiconductor fabrication and has applications in nanolithography (recognized with an R&D100 award in 2014),^[22] optical coatings, advanced sorbents, and membranes. SIS was also used to in the development of the Oleo Sponge to engineer a reusable oleophilic material that grabs oil molecules from water to mitigate oil spills.^[23][24]

Polymer science and self-assembly[edit]

Darling studied the directed self-assembly of polymers and polymer/nanoparticle hybrid systems.^[25] He’s investigated ways to tune the nanostructures that form when block copolymers self-assemble, in order to create useful materials for nanotechnologies and other applications.^[26] His most cited paper reviews methods to control the self-assembly of block copolymers and their application in microelectronics and other technologies.^[25]

Awards and honors[edit]

• Samuel D. Bader Prize for Exceptional Achievement, 2017^[27]
• R&D 100 Award, Gold Special Recognition Award for Green Tech, and Editor’s Choice Award for Mechanical/Materials Research for Oleo Sponge, 2017^[20]
• R&D 100 Award for SIS lithography, 2014^[22]
• Argonne Energy Slam Champion, 2014^[28]
• Science Magazine Vizzie Award, 1^st place, 2010^[29]

In the media[edit]

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Seth B. Darling | Argonne National Laboratory
• ‪Seth B Darling‬ - ‪Google Scholar‬
• Seth B. Darling | University of Chicago News
• Seth Darling | Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering
• Seth Darling (Argonne) | Water Research Initiative
• Seth Darling on linkedin
• Seth Darling - The Science Factory

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