Andrew R.

Barron
Andrew R. Barron (born 20 May 1962) is a British
chemist, academic, and entrepreneur. He is the Sêr Andrew R. Barron
Cymru Chair of Low Carbon Energy and Environment Born 20 May 1962
at Swansea University, and the Charles W. Duncan Jr.- Welwyn Garden City, England
Welch Foundation Chair in Chemistry at Rice Title Sêr Cymru Chair of Low Carbon
University.[1] He is the founder and director of Energy Energy and Environment
Safety Research Institute (ESRI) at Swansea Charles W. Duncan Jr.-Welch
University,[2] which consolidates the energy research Foundation Chair in Chemistry
at the University with a focus on environmental impact Professor of Materials Science
and future security.[3] At Rice University, he leads a & Nano Engineering
Research Group and has served as Associate Dean for Spouse Merrie Barron
Industry Interactions and Technology Transfer.[4]
Academic background
Most of Barron's work has revolved around the study Alma mater Imperial College
of nanoparticles and their applications. Early on, he Doctoral Geoffrey Wilkinson
studied how the structure of a molecule could advisor
overcome thermodynamic control and create new solid
Academic work
state structures. Some of his early work also dealt with
alumoxanes and ceramic nanomaterials.[5] In the early Discipline Chemistry
2000s, his research began to focus on carbon Sub- Organometallics, Nano
nanomaterials, the functionalization of fullerenes and discipline Engineering, Energy,
single walled carbon nanotubes. Later, application of Environment
nanotechnology to energy problems became the focal Institutions Swansea University
point of his work. He has authored over 440 papers and Rice University
6 books, including a book co-authored with his wife,
Merrie Barron, entitled Project Management for Scientists and Engineers.[6][7]

Barron is the co-founder of Oxane Materials and Natcore Technology.[8] He was a co-founder of the Rice
Alliance.[9]

Barron has received several awards for his research and work. He received the Humboldt Senior Scientist
Research Award in 1997, the Welch Foundation Norman Hackerman Award in Chemical Research in
2002 and the Lifetime Achievement Award by Houston Technology Center in Nanotechnology in 2011.
He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.[10]

Early life and education

Barron was born in Welwyn Garden City, and brought up in Farnham, Surrey. In 1983, Barron completed
his BSc in chemistry from Imperial College. Subsequently, he received his PhD degree in 1986 from
Imperial College under the supervision of Geoffrey Wilkinson.[10]
After completing his PhD, Barron moved to the United States and joined University of Texas at Austin
for his post-doctoral research, which dealt with the chemistry of multiple bonds to phosphorus and
carbon. He published the first structural characterization of a C≅P triple bond in 1988 in a paper he co-
authored with Alan Cowley.[11] In 1987, he joined Harvard University as an assistant professor of
chemistry and was promoted to associate professor in 1991. Barron founded Gallia inc. in 1992 and
became Chairman of its Scientific Advisory board.[12]

Later career
Barron left Harvard University in 1995, when he joined Rice University as professor of Chemistry and
Materials Science. He stepped down from his position at Gallia in 1997. In 1998, he was appointed as the
Charles W. Duncan Jr.-Welch Foundation Chair in Chemistry at Rice University.[13]

Following his studies on ceramic nanoparticles and the discovery of their applications, he founded Oxane
Materials in 2002. The company developed nanoproducts with applications in the field of energy.[14]
Building on his research with nanoparticles, Barron founded Natcore Technology in 2004 and joined the
scientific advisory board of the company. The company manufactures nanoparticles and technology with
applications in the solar sectors.[15]

From 2006 to 2008, he served as the Associate Dean of Industry Interactions and Technology Transfer at
the institute. In 2013 he was appointed as the Sêr Cymru Chair of Low Carbon Energy and Environment,
College of Engineering, Swansea University. He taught as a visiting professor for one year at University
of Wales in 2009.[13] Barron has served as a board member of the Houston Clean Energy Park. His
research in the field of energy resulted in the foundation of Energy Safety Research Institute, which he
leads, at Swansea University. The vision of the Energy Research Safety Institute (ESRI)and Swansea
University is "building the bridge to a sustainable, affordable and secure energy future."

Barron is the editor of Journal of Nanomaterials since 2013[16] and Scientific Reports since 2014.[17] He
is also part of the editorial boards of Main Group Chemistry and Materials Science in Semiconductor
Processing. Barron has served on the advisory board of King Abdullah University of Science and
Technology, Zhu Zhou International Research Institute China, and Yellow River Delta Efficient Eco-
economic Development.[9]

Research

Molecular control over solid state structure

In the early 1990s, Barron developed interest in studying how the structure of a molecule could overcome
thermodynamic control and create new solid state structures. As such, he synthesized a class of cubic
Gallium chalcogenide compounds and showed that a new meta-stable phase could be synthesized.[18]

Alumoxanes
Following from his work on the chalcogenides, Barron was the first person to crystallographically
characterise an alumoxane in 1993. These structures were spectroscopically consistent with
methylalumoxane and he showed that despite being octet molecules they had significant Lewis acidity, he
termed this as "Latent Lewis acidity", and showed that this mechanism applied to a number of MAO style
polymerization systems. Barron's model has been evolved by others but is essentially the same as now
widely accepted.[19]

Ceramic nanomaterials
While investigating MAO-like structures, Barron noticed the relationship between clusters and minerals,
at the same time he became interested in metalloxane polymers. He determined that these "polymers"
were actually nanoparticles. Furthermore, he showed that these metal oxide nanoparticles could be
chemically made by a top-down approach from mineral with which they shared their structures. With the
ability to make a range of nanoparticles with different functional groups and control over size, Barron
found that the structure and physical properties of macroscopic materials could be controlled by
alterations at the nanometer scale.[20]

Barron was the first to discover that nanoparticle derived ceramics could be designed to have intra-
granular porosity, meaning that the pores are within the crystal grain rather than between the crystal
grains as normally observed. This had implications in composites and in membranes and separation
processes. Through his research, Barron developed a process that forms hollow spheres of ceramic with
exceptional crush strength.[21]

Barron rationalized that if hollow ceramic spheres could be made on a large scale they could replace
dense ceramics being used in oil extraction and minimize waste. He created a spin-off company to
commercialize this technology.[22] In 2010, Barron and his team, on the request of U.S. Navy, developed
a ceramic membrane with microscale pores that could filter out contaminants from waters and protect
divers' wet suits without getting blocked.[23]

Carbon nanomaterials
Barron investigated the impact of a fullerene on wide range of systems. Initial work was concerned with
the toxicity on various cell types. The results of this work demonstrated that inclusion of C60 into a
peptide structure drastically lowered any toxicity effects.[24]

In his latest work, Barron has studied catalysis with growth of single walled carbon nanotubes
(SWCNTs). He pioneered the concept of amplification of a CNT.[25][26]

Environmental research
In mid 2010s, Barron returned to the issue of water purification. He has investigated the nano control
over the surface of a material that allows for the creation of both super hydrophilic surfaces that allow for
separation of oil and water without fouling.[27] In this area, his research has been focused on energy
problems including sustainable resources and waste recovery, reducing the impact of hydrocarbon energy
sources, carbon dioxide valorisation and long-term sequestration and the next generation of the energy
distribution.[9]

Personal life
Barron lives with his wife, Merrie Barron, in both Swansea (Wales) and Houston (Texas). Since he
moved to Texas in 1990s, he has participated in motor racing as a sport. In 1999 American Lemans
Series, he was team principle for team in the GTS class. He participated in the final season of USRRC
under Ross Racing. Barron has previously raced Lotus Seven, Caterham Seven, and Lotus Type 61
Formula Ford. He has been SW Division SCCA E-Production Champion, 2013 Monoposto Formula Ford
Champion,[28] 2013 SVRA Group 2 Sprint Series Champion and 2014 Monoposto Formula Ford
Champion.[29] In 2018, he raced FIA Formula Opel Racing with a Formula Vauxhall Lotus.[9][30]

Awards and honors

1983 - HVA Briscoe Prize
1987 - Du Pont Young Faculty Fellow
1991 - Meldola Medal and Prize by Royal Society of Chemistry
1992 to 1994 - Alcoa Directors Fellowship
1995 - Corday Morgan Medal and Prize[9]
1995 - Fellow, Royal Society of Chemistry
1997 - Hümboldt Senior Scientist Research Award[10]
2002 - Welch Foundation Norman Hackerman Award in Chemical Research
2009 - Prince of Wales Visiting Innovator[1]
2011 - Lifetime Achievement Award in Nanotechnology
2011 - World Technology Award (Materials)
2013 - Applied Inorganic Chemistry Award (Royal Society of Chemistry)[10]
2016 - Erasmus+ Vilnius University
2019 - Star of Asia Award [31][32][33]
2020 - Adjunct Professor University of Technology Brunei

Bibliography

Books
Alumoxanes: Rationalization of Black Box Materials (1993)
Covalent Ceramics II: Volume 327: Non-Oxides (1994)
Chemistry of Electronic Materials: From Raw Materials to Integrated Circuit. (2010)
Project Management (2013)
Chemistry of the Main Group Elements. (2014)
 Physical Methods in Chemistry and Nano Science. 2018

Selected papers
Hydrolysis of tri-tert-butylaluminum: The First Structural Characterization of Alkylalumoxanes
[(R2Al)2O]n and (RAlO)n. Journal of the American Chemical Society (1993)
Three-coordinate Aluminum is not a Prerequisite for Catalytic Activity in the Zirconocene-
alumoxane Polymerization of Ethylene. Journal of the American Chemical Society (1995)
From Minerals to Materials: Synthesis of Alumoxanes from the Reaction of Boehmite with
Carboxylic Acids. Journal of Materials Chemistry (1995)
Single Wall Carbon Nanotube Amplification: En route to a Type-specific Growth Mechanism.
Journal of the American Chemical Society (2006)
Effects of Mechanical Flexion on the Penetration of Fullerene Amino Acid-derivatized
Peptide Nanoparticles Through Skin. Nano Letters (2007)
Synthesis, Characterization, and Carbon Dioxide Absorption of Covalently Attached
Polyethyleneimine-functionalized Single-wall Carbon Nanotubes. ACS Nano (2008)
High-yield Organic Dispersions of Unfunctionalized Graphene. Nano Letters (2009)
Nitrene addition to exfoliated graphene: a one-step route to highly functionalized graphene,
Chemical Communications (2010)
Increasing the efficiency of single walled carbon nanotube amplification by Fe–Co catalysts
through the optimization of CH4/H2 partial pressures, Nano letters (2011)
Organic compounds in produced waters from shale gas wells, Environmental Science:
Processes & Impacts (2014)
Branched hydrocarbon low surface energy materials for superhydrophobic nanoparticle
derived surfaces, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces (2015)
Easily Regenerated Readily Deployable Absorbent for Heavy Metal Removal from
Contaminated Water, Scientific Reports (2017)
Spatial and contamination dependent electrical properties of carbon nanotubes, Nano
Letters (2017)
Superhydrophilic Functionalization of Microfiltration Ceramic Membranes Enables
Separation of Hydrocarbons from Frac and Produced Water. Scientific Reports (2018)

References
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5. Barron, Andrew R. (1995). "New Method for the Determination of the Trialkylaluminum
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ttps://[Link]/10.1021%2Fom00007a070).
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11. Barron, Andrew R.; Hall, Stephen W.; Cowley, Alan H. (1987). "Cyclic carboxylic
monophosphides: a new class of phosphorus heterocycle". Journal of the Chemical Society,
Chemical Communications (23): 1753–1754. doi:10.1039/C39870001753 ([Link]
1039%2FC39870001753).
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18. Schulz, Stephan; Gillan, Edward G.; Ross, Jean L.; Rogers, Lillian M.; Rogers, Robin D.;
Barron, Andrew R. (1996). "Synthesis of Gallium Chalcogenide Cubanes and Their Use as
CVD Precursors for Ga2E3 (E = S, Se)". Organometallics. 15 (22): 4880–4883.
doi:10.1021/om960480w ([Link]
19. Andrew R. Barron (July 1995). "New Method for the Determination of the Trialkylaluminum
Content in Alumoxanes". Organometallics. 14 (7): 3581–3583. doi:10.1021/om00007a070 (h
ttps://[Link]/10.1021%2Fom00007a070). S2CID 33271800 ([Link]
CorpusID:33271800).
20. Defriend, Kimberly A.; Barron, Andrew R. (2003). "Strengthening of porous alumina bodies
using carboxylate-alumoxane nanoparticles". Journal of Materials Science. 38 (5): 927–935.
doi:10.1023/A:1022364822978 ([Link]
S2CID 134080915 ([Link]
21. Defriend, Kimberly A.; Barron, Andrew R. (2003). "A flexible route to high strength α-alumina
and aluminate spheres". Journal of Materials Science. 38 (12): 2673–2678.
doi:10.1023/A:1024494821196 ([Link]
S2CID 133915657 ([Link]
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7/[Link]). ScienceDaily.
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[Link]/swansea-filter-fracking/). 2017-09-26.
24. Rouse, Jillian G.; Yang, Jianzhong; Ryman-Rasmussen, Jessica P.; Barron, Andrew R.;
Monteiro-Riviere, Nancy A. (2007). "Effects of Mechanical Flexion on the Penetration of
Fullerene Amino Acid-Derivatized Peptide Nanoparticles through Skin". Nano Letters. 7 (1):
155–160. Bibcode:2007NanoL...7..155R ([Link]
155R). doi:10.1021/nl062464m ([Link] PMID 17212456 (h
ttps://[Link]/17212456).
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Moore, Valerie C.; Pheasant, Sean T.; McJilton, Laura; Schmidt, Howard K.; Hauge, Robert
H.; Billups, W. Edward; Tour, James M.; Smalley, Richard E.; Barron, Andrew R. (2007).
"Amplification of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes from Designed Seeds: Separation of
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[Link]/10.1021%2Fjp0712506).
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tps://[Link]/story/carbon-nanotube-filter-removes-over-99-of-heavy-metal-to
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Retrieved from "[Link]