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Dr. Mohannad Mayyas's research expertise spans the areas of nanotechnology, interfacial science, electrochemistry, and chemical metallurgy. In 2011, he was awarded a master's scholarship under the nuclear cooperation agreement between the Kingdom of Jordan and the People's Republic of China to pursue research on uranium extraction from Jordanian phosphate rock. During this time, Dr. Mayyas investigated novel nano-sized dendrimers with metal chelating abilities to isolate uranium from the phosphoric acid solution that results from the acidulation of phosphate rock using sulfuric acid.

After completing his master studies, Dr. Mayyas worked at the Jordan Atomic Energy Commission and its commercial arm, the Jordan Uranium Mining Company (JUMCO), to develop a process for extracting uranium from the Upper Cretaceous uranium-bearing rocks (carbonates and phosphorites) in central Jordan.

In 2015, Dr. Mayyas was awarded a scholarship to pursue a PhD in Materials Science and Engineering at the University of New South Wales. In his PhD, he worked in the fields of carbon materials and green steel technologies. 

He also collaborated closely with Australian mining and manufacturing industries, including LIBERTY OneSteel and Molycop, to integrate sustainable feedstocks into steel carburizing and iron-making processes. Additionally, he worked with Microbiogen Pty Ltd on a project involving lignocellulosic biomass fractionation and processing. He also worked on a research project in collaboration with Chase Mining Corporation Limited (Formerly known as Toptung Limited) to develop a solution for silexite tailings (from tungsten-mining operations).

Following his PhD completion in 2018, Dr. Mayyas worked as a research fellow for five years. He first accepted a postdoctoral position at the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of New South Wales. He conducted fundamental research on liquid metals and their interfaces. His research on liquid alloys led to the discovery of a new electrocapillary-controlled phase separation in these liquids, a phenomenon with promising applications in advanced manufacturing and extractive metallurgy. This phenomenon was named the ‘metal expulsion’. His research also established a new understanding of the relationship between surface enrichment, a critical interfacial characteristic of liquid alloys, and their electrocatalytic behavior. His research team could also derive new empirical models that could describe the surface composition of liquid alloys and its manipulation through electrocapillary.

In 2021, Dr. Mayyas accepted a senior research fellow position at the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Melbourne. In this role, he worked on a research spin-off, Carbelec Pty Ltd, in collaboration with Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd and the University of Melbourne, to develop a foundation for the constant capture and reuse of carbon in industrial processes. The project involves developing a CO2 electrolysis technology based on molten salts and adapt it for industrial scale production. He produced six provisional patents from his work with Carbelec and the University of Melbourne. Dr. Mayyas also worked as a process consultant at Hatch to develop extractive metallurgical solutions (both hydro and pyro) for Ni and Cu ore deposits.

Since 2014, Dr. Mayyas has published 80 papers, with 35% in journals with impact factors greater than 15. His work has attracted over 2,800 citations, with a citation rate that has steadily increased to over 700 citations per year. His h-index is 32, according to both Google Scholar and SCOPUS as of September 2024. He also holds six provisional patents in the fields of extractive metallurgy and carbon capture and utilization. Some highlights of his research include publications in prestigious journals such as Science (IF = 48), Joule (IF = 46.048), Nature Nanotechnology (IF = 39.213), Advanced Materials (IF = 32.086), Nature Chemistry (IF = 24.274), Matter (Cell Press, IF = 19.97), Advanced Functional Materials (IF = 19.924), Applied Physics Reviews(IF = 19.527), ACS Nano (IF = 18.027), and Chemical Engineering Journal (IF = 16.744).

Dr. Mayyas serves as an editorial advisory board member for the Nanoparticle journal and as an editorial team member for Advanced Nano Computing and Analytics. In addition, Dr. Mayyas regularly reviews manuscripts for several prestigious journals, including Nature Communications, ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, Electrochimica Acta, ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering, Molecules, Chemical Engineering, Cleaner Production, Waste Management, Materials, Metals, Materials Today Communications, and Minerals.

Current Research at KFUPM:

  • Metal expulsion theory and applications
  • Liquid metal applications in thermochemical processes
  • Metal catalysts for CO2 reduction
  • Green metallurgical processes (iron making and steel production)
  • Process development and design (industry oriented, mineral processing and extractive metallurgy)

Previous Graduate Students:

  • Ms. Xichao Zhang (Current PhD student at UoM): Currently investigating the metal expulsion phenomenon in room-temperature liquid alloys for recycling e-waste alloys.
  • Ms. Fahimeh Gholampoursaadi (Current PhD student at UoM): Fahimeh is studying the quasi-crystalline atomic layers of liquid metals for CO2 electrocatalytic reduction into organic fuels. (1) F. Gholampoursaadi, X. Zhi, S. Nour, J. Z. Liu, G. K. Li, M. Mayyas*, Surface Enrichment in Gallium-Indium Liquid Alloys: Applied to CO2 Conversion. Adv. Funct. Mater. 2024, 2316435.
  • Dr. Maedehasadat Mousavi (Completed her PhD at UNSW): Dr. Mousavi’s research led to the discovery of a novel interfacial technique for nanoalloy deposition onto liquid metals. This technique has demonstrated significant advantages in energy storage and gas sensing. Dr. Mousavi demonstrated these advantages in her thesis and published the following articles under my supervision. (2) Mousavi, M.; Mittal, U.; Ghasemian, M. B.; Baharfar, M.; Tang, J.; Yao, Y.; Merhebi, S.; Zhang, C.; Sharma, N.; Kalantar-Zadeh, K.; Mayyas, M.* Liquid Metal-Templated Tin-Doped Tellurium Films for Flexible Asymmetric Pseudocapacitors. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2022, 14 (45), 51519-51530. (3) Mousavi, M.; Ghasemian, M. B.; Han, J.; Wang, Y.; Yang, J.; Tang, J.; Idrus-Saidi, S. A.; Guan, X.; Christoe, M. J.; Mayyas, M.* Bismuth Telluride Topological Insulator Synthesized Using Liquid Metal Alloys: Test of NO2 Selective Sensing. Appl. Mater. Today 2021, 22, 100954.
  • Dr. Jiewei Zheng (Completed his PhD at UNSW). I supervised Dr. Zheng in the first year of his PhD program before I moved to UoM. Dr. Zheng's research looks into the chemical activity of liquid metal interfaces and their applications in MOF synthesis.(4) Zheng, J.; Mousavi, M.; Baharfar, M.; Sharma, A.; Kumeria, T.; Han, J.; Kumar, P.; Kalantar-Zadeh, K.; Mayyas, M.* Liquid Metal-Based Electrosynthesis of Stratified Zinc–Organic Frameworks. J. Mater. Chem. C 2022, 10 (40), 14963-14970.
  • Dr. Mahroo Baharfar (Completed her PhD at UNSW). I supervised Dr. Baharfar in the second and third years of her PhD program before I moved to UoM. Dr. Baharfar's research looks into the utilisation of liquid metal interfaces for advanced synthesis of functional materials, particularly for electrochemical biosensing applications. Dr. Baharfar published the following articles under my supervision: (5) Baharfar, M.; Zheng, J.; Abbasi, R.; Lim, S.; Kundi, V.; Kumar, P. V.; Rahim, M. A.; Zhang, C.; Kalantar-Zadeh, K.; Mayyas, M.* Interface-controlled Phase Separation of Liquid Metal-based Eutectic Ternary Alloys. Chem. Mater. 2022. DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemmater.2c02981. (6) Baharfar, M.; Mayyas, M.*; Rahbar, M.; Allioux, F.-M.; Tang, J.; Wang, Y.; Cao, Z.; Centurion, F.; Jalili, R.; Liu, G.; Kalantar-Zadeh, K. Exploring Interfacial Graphene Oxide Reduction by Liquid Metals: Application in Selective Biosensing. ACS Nano 2021, 15 (12), 19661-19671.
  • Mr Hongzhe Li (completed his honors program). Mr Li published the following article under my supervision: (7) Li, H.; Abbasi, R.; Wang, Y.; Allioux, F. M.; Koshy, P.; Idrus-Saidi, S. A.; Rahim, M. A.; Yang, J.; Mousavi, M.; Tang, J.; Ghasemian, M. B.; Jalili, R.; Kalantar-Zadeh, K.; Mayyas, M.* Liquid Metal-supported Synthesis of Cupric Oxide. J. Mater. Chem. C 2020, 8 (5), 1656-1665.
  • Dr. Yifang Wang (Completed her PhD at UNSW). I co-supervised Dr. Wang in the first and second years of her PhD program before I moved to UoM. Dr. Wang published the following articles under my supervision: (8) Wang, Y.; Mayyas, M.*; Yang, J.; Tang, J.; Han, J.; Elbourne, A.; Kaner, R. B.; Kalantar-Zadeh, K. Self-Deposition of 2D Molybdenum Sulfides on Liquid Metals. Adv. Funct. Mater. 2021, 31 (3), 2005866. (9) Wang, Y.; Mayyas, M.*; Yang, J.; Ghasemian, M. B.; Tang, J.; Mousavi, M.; Han, J.; Baharfar, M.; Mao, G.; Yao, Y.; Cortie, D. Liquid-Metal-Assisted Deposition and Patterning of Molybdenum Dioxide at Low Temperature. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2021, 13 (44), 53181-53193.
  • Dr. Jialuo Han (completed his PhD). I co-supervised Dr. Han in the last year of his PhD program. Dr. Han published the following article under my supervision: (10) Han, J.; Mayyas, M.*; Tang, J.; Mousavi, M; Cai, S.; Cao, Z.; Wang, Y.; Tang, J.; Jalili, R.; O'Mullane, A. P.; Kaner, R. B.; Khoshmanesh, K.; Kalantar-Zadeh, K. Liquid Metal Enabled Continuous Flow Reactor: A Proof-of-concept. Matter 2021, 4 (12), 4022-4041.
  • Ms Jingxiao Lyu. Ms. Lyu completed her master’s studies and published the following article: (11) Lyu, J.; Mayyas, M.*; Salim, O.; Zhu, H.; Chu, D.; Joshi, R. K. Electrochemical Performance of Hydrothermally Synthesized rGO Based Electrodes. Mater. Today Energy 2019, 13, 277-284.