Dr. Atif Alzahrani received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) in 2010. After spending two years at the Research and Development Center (R&DC), Saudi Aramco as a research engineer, he joined the Mechanical Engineering Department as a graduate assistant and earned his M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from KFUPM in 2015 under the supervision of Dr. Nasser Al-Aqeeli. He graduated with a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from The Pennsylvania State University (Penn state) in 2020.

Educational Qualification

• Ph.D. Materials Science and Engineering (2020), The Pennsylvania State University, Pennsylvania 16802, USA
• M.Sc. Mechanical Engineering (2015), King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia 
• B.Sc.  Mechanical Engineering (2010), King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia

Courses Taught

• ME 216  Materials Science and Engineering
• ME 217  Materials Lab
• ME 205  Materials Science

Research Interest

Rechargeable energy storage lies at the heart of developing a sustainable future with more renewable energy integration into the energy mix and net zero-emission. Hence there is a need to innovate new materials and engineer solutions to develop cost-effective batteries with high energy, power, and safety characteristics. Our research stands at the frontier between materials science, electrochemistry, and engineering principles, and its ultimate goal is to develop innovative energy storage solutions and guide the development of future energy technologies.

Research Highlights

Representative Publications

• Atif S. Alzahrani, Mitsutoshi Otaki, Daiwei Wang, Yue Gao, Timothy S. Arthur, Shuai Liu, Donghai Wang, Confining Sulfur in Porous Carbon by Vapor Deposition to Achieve High-Performance Cathode for All-Solid-State Lithium–Sulfur Batteries, ACS Energy Letters (2021).
• Yue Gao, Daiwei Wang, Yun Kyung Shin, Zhifei Yan, Zhuo Han, Ke Wang, Md Jamil Hossain, Shuling Shen, Atif AlZahrani, Adri CT van Duin, Thomas E Mallouk, Donghai Wang, Stable metal anodes enabled by a labile organic molecule bonded to a reduced graphene oxide aerogel; Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2020)
• Guoxing Li, Zhe Liu, Daiwei Wang, Xin He, Shuai Liu, Yue Gao, Atif AlZahrani, Seong H Kim, Long‐Qing Chen, Donghai Wang, Electrokinetic phenomena enhanced lithium‐ion transport in leaky film for stable lithium metal anodes, Advanced Energy Materials (2019)
• Atif S. Alzahrani, Ran Yi, Jiangxuan Song, Dongha Wang, Hybrid Li-Ion Electrochemical Capacitor Enabled by Highly Crumpled Nitrogen-Doped Graphene, Presented at 233th Electrochemical Society meeting 2018, Seattle, WA, USA (2018)

Representative Patents

• Nasser Al-Aqeeli, Muhammad Ashraf Gondal, Hamoud Al-Hajri, Atef Al-Zahrani, Crumb Rubber Coating Composition and Method for Protecting A Surface, (2018)
• Ahmad D. Hammad, Zaki Yusuf, Stamatios Souentie, Nayif A. Al-Rasheedi, Bandar A. Fadhel, Atef Saeed Al-Zahrani, Carbon Dioxide Conversion to Hydrocarbon Fuel via Syngas Production Cell Harnessed From Solar Radiation, (2016)