Wei Chen is a Chemist at the Center or Molecular Engineering and the Materials Science division at Argonne National Laboratory.

After received his Ph.D. in polymer science and engineering under the supervision of Professor Thomas P. Russell at University of Massachusetts-Amherst in 2010, Chen joined Argonne as an Argonne Scholar —Director’s Postdoctoral Fellow in the Center for Nanoscale Materials. Following his postdoc, he joined the Center for Molecular Engineering and Materials Science division as a research scientist at Argonne. His current research mainly focuses on: 

• Precise synthesis of polymeric materials with well-defined molecular weight, microstructure (sequence and tacticity), architecture, and functional group location
• 3D construction of functionally graded nanocoatings for achieving antifouling water treatment as well as self-cleaning and energy-saving surface
• Charge carrier control by use of multifunctional poly(ionic liquids)-based ionogels as high capacitance gate dielectrics for ultralow power electronics and health-related devices
• Directed self-assembly of chiroplasmonic nanostructures for next-generation metasurface and understanding of chirality transfer from a molecule to an assembly
• Structural and dynamic characterization through neutron and x-ray scattering techniques with a special focus on energy-resolved resonant x-ray scattering