Research Highlights

Dr Mohannad Mayyas is an Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and the Director of the Interdisciplinary Research Center for Advanced Materials (IRC-AM) at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM). His research focuses on liquid–liquid interfaces of liquid metal alloys and their applications, with broader interests in advanced materials for energy and industrial innovation.

Dr. Mayyas brings extensive experience from his career in Australia, where he worked closely with the mining and metals industries to develop practical solutions for mineral processing and the management of complex waste streams.

In 2021, Dr Mayyas' research on liquid metal alloys led to the discovery of a new electrocapillary-controlled phase separation in these liquids (named the metal expulsion), a phenomenon with promising applications in advanced manufacturing and extractive metallurgy. His current research seeks to develop innovative green metallurgical technologies.

Current Research at KFUPM:

  • Metal expulsion theory and applications.
  • CO2 capture and utilization.
  • Carbon materials
  • Process development and design (industry oriented, mineral processing and extractive metallurgy). 

Key performance indicators:

  • More than 90 publications, dating from 2014 to present.
  • Around 35% of his publications are in journals with impact factors >18. 
  • Total citations of more than 3,500. The citation rate has steadily increased to the current level of over 800 citations per year.
  • h-index of 36/36 (Google Scholar/SCOPUS as of Feb 2025).

Highlights:

  • 1 paper in Science (IF=48)
  • 1 paper in Joule (IF=46.048)
  • 1 paper in Nature Nanotechnology (IF=39.213)
  • 3 papers in Advanced Materials (IF=32.086)
  • 1 paper in Nature Chemistry (IF=24.274)
  • 1 paper in Matter (Cell press, IF=19.97)
  • 6 papers in Advanced Functional Materials (IF=19.924)
  • 1 paper in Applied Physics Reviews (IF=19.527)
  • 5 papers in ACS Nano (IF=18.027)

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.