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Dr. Ahmed Abdala

Dr. Ahmed Abdala

Professor

Office Number: 219C
Office Phone: +974.4423.0180


Dr. Abdala research focuses on development of advanced materials for energy and environmental applications based on polymers and nanomaterials, including polymer nanocomposites, functionalized graphene materials, anticorrosion coatings, polymeric membranes for gas separation and water treatment, and nanohybirds of metal oxides and 2D carbon materials.

Current Research of Dr. Abdala:

  • Polymer nanocomposites for development of functional materials
  • Polymeric membranes for water treatment
  • Nanomaterials synthesis and functionalization
  • Graphene-metal nanocomposites
  • Application of nanomaterials in water treatment
  • Chemical Enhanced Oil Recovery (CEOR)

Education

  • Doctor of Philosophy, North Carolina State University, 2003
  • Master of Science, North Carolina State University, 2001
  • Master of Science, Petrochemicals, Suez Canal University, 1995
  • Bachelor of Science (Honor), Petroleum Refining Engineering,1990

Experience

 2021 - present

Professor, Chemical Engineering Program, Texas A&M University at Qatar, Doha, Qatar

2017 - 2021

Associate Professor, Chemical Engineering Program, Texas A&M University at Qatar, Doha, Qatar

2015 - 2017

Associate Professor, Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU), Doha, Qatar

2015 - 2017

Senior Scientist, Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute (QEERI), HBKU, Doha, Qatar

2013 -

Associate Professor (on leave), Suez University, Egypt

2012-2015

Deputy Chair, Department of Chemical Engineering, the Petroleum  Institute, Abu Dhabi, UAE

2011-2015

Associate Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, the Petroleum  Institute, Abu Dhabi, UAE

2006-2011

Assistant Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, the Petroleum  Institute, Abu Dhabi, UAE

2004-2006

Assistant Professor, Suez Canal University, Egypt

Awards

  • Qatar Excellence in Innovation Award, Citation Impact Classified by Web of Science, October, 2016.
  • Science Lantern Faculty Award, ADNOC R&D, February 2014.
  • Science Lantern Faculty Award, ADNOC R&D, February 2013.
  • Best Paper Award (First Prize), New Frontiers in Materials Science Conference, Kuwait Foundation for Advancement of Science, Kuwait, December 2010.
  • Nancy G. Pollock Thesis and Dissertation Award for the best Ph. D. Thesis in the College of Engineering, North Carolina State University, 2002-2003.

Honors

  • Member of the Scientific Advisory Board: The Arab Scientific Community Organization.
  • Postdoctoral Fellowship, Princeton University, 2003.
  • Ph.D. scholarship, Egyptian government, 1998.

Publications

Patents

  • Saeed Alkhazraji, Ahmed Abdalla, Sara Aldhaheri, Dana Fadlalla, Sara Qeshta, “Thermoplastic based sulfur nanocomposites,” US Patent No 9,783,652, October , 2017
  • Serinc, J. Barret, and A. Abdala, “Compositions Including Poly(Hydroxyalkanoates) and Graphene,” US Patent No 9,353,23, May 31st2016.
  • Prud'Homme, I. Aksay, and AAbdala, “Thermally Exfoliated Graphite Oxide,” US Patent No: 8,066,964, November 29th2011
  • Prud'Homme, I. Aksay, D. Adamson and AAbdala“Wire Coating Containing Thermally Exfoliated Graphite Oxide,” US Patent No: 8048950, November 1st2011.
  • Prud'Homme, I. Aksay, D. Adamson and AAbdala, “Automotive Body Panel Containing Thermally Exfoliated Graphite Oxide,” US Patent No: 7,935,754, May 3rd2011.
  • Prud'Homme, I. Aksay, D. Adamson and AAbdala, “Thermally Exfoliated Graphite Oxide,” US Patent No: 7,658,901, February 9th2010.
  • Prud'Homme, I. Aksay, D. Adamson and AAbdala, “Thermally Exfoliated Graphite Oxide and Its Use in Nanocomposites,” European Patent No: EP1934139, June 25th2008.

Peer-Reviewed Journal Article

  • I Ismail, J Vandenberg, A Abdala, C Macosko, “Modeling the intrinsic viscosity of polydisperse disks,” Journal of Rheology 61 (5), 997-1006, 2017.
  • Subrati, S. Mondal, M. Ali, A. Alhindi, R. Ghazi, A. Abdala, D. Reinalda, and S. Alhassan, Developing Hydrophobic Graphene Foam for Oil spill Cleanup. Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, 56 (24), pp 6945–69512017.
  • Kui Wang, Ahmed A. Abdala, Nidal Hilal, and Marwan K. Khraisheh, Mechanical properties of water desalination and wastewater treatment membranes, Desalination, 401 (2), 190–205, 2017. (50th Anniversary Issue)
  • Muhammad Z. Iqbal, Priyabrata Pal, Mohamad Shoaib and Ahmed A. Abdala, “Efficient Removal of Different Basic Dyes Using Graphene,” Desalination and Water Treatment, 68, 226-235, 2017.
  • Sunil P. Lonkar, Vishnu Pillai, Ahmed Abdala and Vikas Mittal, “In-situ Formed Graphene/ZnO Nanostructured Composites for Low Temperature Hydrogen Sulfide Removal from Natural Gas, RSC Advances., 6, 81142-81150, 2016.
  • Alhumade, A. Yu, A. Elkamel, L. Simon, and A. AbdalacEpoxy/Graphene Composite as protective coatings on Stainless Steel type 304,” Express Polymer Letters 10 (12), 1034-1046, 2016.
  • Manasrah, U. Al-Mubaiyedh, T. Laui, R. Ben-Mansour, M. J Al-Marri, I. W Almanassra, A. Abdala, M. A Atieh, Heat transfer enhancement of nanofluids using iron nanoparticles decorated carbon nanotubes, Applied Thermal Engineering, 107, 1008–1018, 2016.
  • Z. Iqbal, A. Abdala, V. Mittal, S. Seifert¢, A. Herring, M. Liberatore, “Processable Conductive Graphene/Polyethylene Nanocomposites: Effects of graphene dispersion and polyethylene blending with oxidized polyethylene on rheology and microstructure,” Polymer, 98 (19), 143-155, 2016.
  • K. Farda, T. Rhadfi, G. Mckay, M. Al-marri, A. Abdala, Nidal Hilal, Muataz A. Hussien, Enhancing Oil Removal from Water using Ferric Oxide Nanoparticles Doped Carbon Nanotubes Adsorbents, Chemical Engineering Journal, 293, 90-101, 2016.
  • Lonkar, S. P., Pillai, V. V., Stephen, S., Abdala, A., and V. Mittal, Facile In Situ Fabrication of Nanostructured Graphene–CuO Hybrid with Hydrogen Sulfide Removal Capacity, Nano-Micro Letters, 8 (4), 1-8, 2016.
  • Cui, G. Hirasaki, Y. Chen, A. Elhag, A. A. Abdala, L. J. Lu, M. Puerto, K. Ma, I. Tanakov, R. Pudasaini, K. Johnston, and S. Biswal1, “CO2 foam mobility control at reservoir conditions: high temperature, high salinity and carbonate reservoirs,” SPE Journal, 21 (4), SPE-179726-PA, 2016.
  • Iqbal, A. Abdala, and M Liberatore, Synthesis and Characterization of Polyethylene/Oxidized Polyethylene (PE/OPE) Miscible Blends and Role of OPE as a Viscosity Control, Journal of Applied Polymer Science, 133, 43521, 2016.
  • Alhumade, A. Abdala, A. Yu, A. Elkamel and L. Simon, "Corrosion inhibition of copper in sodium chloride solution using polyetherimide/graphene composites” Canadian Chemical Engineering Journal, 94 (5), 896, 2016.
  • G George, N Bhoria, S AlHallaq, Abdala, V. Mittal, Polymer membranes for acid gas removal from natural gas, Separation and Purification Technology 158, 333-356, 2016.
  • Varghesea, . Lonkar, K Singh, S. Swaminathan, A. Abdalac"Recent advances in graphene based gas sensors," Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, 218, 160-183, 2015. (cited 200 times)
  • Abdalac, S. Amin, J. van Zanten, and S. Khan, “Tracer microrheology of associative polymers,"Langmuir, 31 (13), 3944-3951, 2015.
  • Lonkar, Y. Deshmukh, and A. Abdalac“Recent advances in chemical modifications of graphene”, Nano Research, 8 (4), 1039-1074, 2015.
  • L Cui, K Ma, AA Abdala, J Lu, IM Tanakov, SL Biswal, GJ Hirasaki, “Adsorption of a switchable cationic surfactant on natural carbonate minerals,” SPE Journal, 20 (1), 70-78, 2015.
  • Liao, S. Aoyama, A. Abdala, C. Macosko, "Doe graphene change Tg of nanocomposites?,"Macromolecules, 47 (23), pp 8311–8319, 2014. (cited 50 times)
  • Liao, S. Kobayashi, H. Kim, A. AbdalacC. Macoskoc, "Influence of functionalized graphene sheets on modulus and glass transition of PMMA" Macromolecules, 2014, 47 (21), pp 7674 (cited 10 times)
  • Lonkar and A. Abdalac, “Graphene applications in catalysis,” Journal of Thermodynamics and Catalysis, 5, 132, 2014.
  • JSF Barrett, AA Abdalac, F Sriencc“Poly (hydroxyalkanoate) elastomers and their graphene nanocomposites,” Macromolecules, 47 (12), 3926-3941, 2014.
  • C Pretschuh, C Schwarzinger, AA Abdala, S Vukusic, “Characterization of conductive nanographite melamine composites,” Open Journal of Composite Materials, 4 (1), 61-71, 2014.
  • A Abdalac, C Pretschuh, C Schwarzinger, S Lonkar, S Vukusic, “Novel electrically Conductive melamine-formaldehyde nanocomposite based on graphite nanosheets,” Macromolecular Symposia, 340 (1), 73-80, 2014.
  • M Iqbal, MS Katsiotis, SM Alhassan, M Liberatore, AA Abdalac"Effects of solvent on the uncatalyzed synthesis of aminosilane-functionalized graphene," RSC Advances, 4, 6830-6839, 2014.
  • W Tesfai, P Singh, Y Shatilla, MZ Iqbal, and AA Abdalac"Rheology and microstructure of dilute graphene oxide suspension," Journal of Nanoparticle Research, 15 (10), 1989-1995 2013. (Cited 14 times)
  • Ken-Hsuan Liao, Yong Tae Parka, Ahmed Abdalac, and Christopher Macoskoc“Aqueous reduced graphene/thermoplastic polyurethane nanocomposites,” Polymer, 54 (17), 4555–4559, 2013.
  • Muhammad Z Iqbal and Ahmed A Abdalac“Oil spill cleanup using graphene,” Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 2, (5), 3271-3279, 2013.
  • Dyana J Merline, Sulafudin Vukusic, and Ahmed A Abdalac“Melamine formaldehyde: curing studies and reaction mechanism,” Polymer Journal, 45, 413-419, 2013.
  • MZ Iqbal and AA Abdalac, “Thermally reduced graphene: synthesis, characterization and dye removal applications” RSC Advances 3 (46), 24455-24464, 2013.
  • Vleminckx, S. Bose, J. Leys, J. Vermant, M. Wübbenhorst, A. Abdala, C. Macosko, and P. Moldenaers. “Effect of thermally reduced graphene sheets on the phase behavior, morphology and electrical conductivity in poly[(α-methyl styrene)-co-(acrylonitrile)/poly(methyl-methacrylate) blends,”ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 2011, 3 (8), 3172–3180.
  • Kim, S. Kobayashib, M. Abdulrahim, M. J. Zhang, A. Khusainova, M. A. Hillmyer, A. A. Abdalac, and C. W. Macosko, “Graphene/polyethylene nanocomposites: Effect of polyethylene functionalization and blending methods" Polymer, 52, 1837-1846, 2011. (Cited 262 times)
  • Kim, A. Abdala, and C. Macosko, “Graphene/polymer nanocomposites,” Macromolecules, 43(16), 6515-6530, 2010. (Cover Article).(Cited 2200 times)
  • Mahammad, A. A. Abdala, G. Roberts, and S. Khan, “Manipulation of hydrophobic interactions in associative polymers using cyclodextrin and enzyme,” Soft Matter, 6 (21), 4237-4245, 2010.
  • Ramanathan, A. A. Abdala, S. Stankovich, D. A. Dikin, M. Herrera-Alonso, R. D. Piner, D. H. Adamson, H. C. Schniepp, X. Chen, R. S. Ruoff, S. T. Nguyen, I. A. Aksay, R. K. Prud'Homme, and L. C. Brinson “Functionalized graphene sheets for polymer nanocomposites,” Nature Nanotechnology, 3, 327-331, 2008. (Cited 2434 times)
  • Margarita Herrera-Alonso, Ahmed A. Abdala, Michael J. McAllister, Ilhan A. Aksay, Robert K. Prud’homme, “Intercalation and stitching of graphite oxide with Diaminoalkanes,” Langmuir, 23 (21), 10644-10649 (2007). (Cited 148 times)
  • McAllister, J. Li, D. Adamson, H. Schniepp, A. Abdala, J. Liu, M. Herrera-Alonso, D. Milius, R. Car, R. Prud’Homme & I. Aksay, “Single sheet functionalized graphene by oxidation and thermal expansion of graphite,” Chemistry of Materials, vol. 19 (18), 4396-4404, (2007). (Cover Article)(Cited 2740 times)
  • Guo, A. Abdala, B. May, S. Lincoln, S. Khan, R. Prud'Homme, “Rheology control by modulating hydrophobic and inclusion associations in modified poly(acrylic acid) solutions,” Polymer, vol. 47, no.9, pp. 2976-2983, 2006.
  • Guo, A. A. Abdala, B. L. May, S. F. Lincoln, S. A. Khan and R. K. Prud’homme “Novel associative polymer networks based on cyclodextrin inclusion compounds,” Macromolecules, 38 (7); 3037-3040 (2005).
  • A. Abdala, W. Wu, K. R. Olesen, R. D. Jenkins, A. E. Tonelli, and S. A. Khan, “Solution rheology of hydrophobically modified associative polymers: effects of backbone composition and hydrophobe concentration,” Journal of Rheology, 48(5), 979-994 (2004).
  • van Zanten, S. Amin, and A. A. Abdala“Brownian motion of colloidal spheres in aqueous PEO solutions”, Macromolecules, 37(10), 3874-3880 (2004).
  • A. Abdala, A. E. Tonelli and S. A. Khan “Modulation of hydrophobic interactions in associative polymers through inclusion compounds and surfactants,” Macromolecules, 36(20), 7833-7841 (2003).
  • A. Abdala, K. Olesen and S. A. Khan “Solution rheology of model HASE polymers: Solvent quality and hydrophobic interactions,” Journal of Rheology, 47(2), 497-511 (2003).