Research Interests:

 

Through my academic training in
different universities and institutes, I have acquired a unique perspective in understanding and
developing cutting-edge materials, and I have
been exposed to various research areas that span
chemical engineering, materials engineering, inorganic chemistry, polymer
science, membrane technology, and interface science. Since
I began my PhD studies, I got inspired by Richard Feynman and his talk ‘There’s
plenty of room at the bottom’ and believed that there are plenty of things
we can do at the molecular level. My research interests focus on the
rational design and synthesis of unconventional functional porous materials and membranes, providing
specific fundamental insights into their molecular engineering, and exploration
of their applications in energy, separations, and catalysis. I plan to harness my unique expertise in materials
engineering to establish a research program centered on functional porous
materials (hybrid inorganic-organic materials) and composite membranes.

Functional porous materials such as metal-organic frameworks (MOFs),
covalent organic frameworks (COFs), and porous organic cages have
revolutionized the field of materials science. Their “made-to-order” design leads
to potentially limitless applications determined by their pore size, geometry
and chemical functionality. My initial work in porous materials
will address two specific aims: (1) Development and synthesis of a new class of
anionic porous materials for applications in ion-conductivity and energy
storage; (2) Development of hierarchal multishell
core-shell nanocomposite materials for applications in separations and
catalysis.

Composite
membranes are often used to address the need for bulk performance or
properties that cannot be achieved using single-component membranes such as
polymeric membranes. Using several components in the membrane fabrication can lead
to membranes with multiple properties, including optimal mechanical properties,
high permeability, and superb selectivity. The control over the properties of
the composite membranes makes them promising candidates that can significantly
advance chemical process technology by replacing decades-old distillation and
absorption-based processes. The initial work on membranes by my
research group will involve: (1) Development of multicomponent membranes for
separation applications; (2) Design and synthesis of a new class of metallopolymers as a promising family of functional soft
materials.

The fundamental
knowledge from each project will be leveraged to develop functional materials
and membranes that exhibit major improvements in performance over existing
state-of-the-art materials and membranes, and potentially revolutionizing the
current technologies from energy efficient separation processes in the gas and
petroleum industries, industrial catalytic reactions, to next-generation
batteries based on earth-abundant chemistries.

In addition to the above directions, due to the
interdisciplinary nature of my research work, I look forward to establishing a
strong and active collaboration with fellow faculty in science and engineering
to explore new opportunities at the interface of chemical engineering,
chemistry, biology physics and materials science.

Research Experience

Visiting
Scientist “Rational Design and Synthesis of Novel Materials and Membranes
for Ionic Conductivity and Gas Separation”

Advisor: Prof.
Jeffrey R. University of California, Berkeley, CA

Postdoctoral
Researcher “Mixed-Matrix Membranes and Nanocomposite Materials for
Post-Combustion Carbon Capture”

Advisor: Dr. David
Hopkinson, National Energy Technology Laboratory, Pittsburgh, PA

Visiting
Assistant Professor “Metal-organic Frameworks and Magnetic Nanocomposites for the
Selective Removal of Radioactive Gases and Ions from Nuclear Reprocessing
Plants” Alexandria University- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Joint
Research

PI: Praveen Thallapally, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory,
Richland, WA

Assistant
Professor “Functional Porous Materials Lab” Alexandria University, Egypt

PhD
Dissertation: “Crystal Engineering of Functional Metal-Organic Material
Platforms for Gas Storage and Separation Applications.”

Advisors: Prof. Michael Zaworotko, Prof. Mohamed Eddaoudi
and Prof. Brian Space, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL

 

Teaching Interests:

 

When educating and training the future generation of
engineers, it is crucial to emphasize that each course is designed to improve a
student’s overall aptitude at solving complex problems. I passionately believe
that the inclusion of state-of-the-art research findings in teaching is one of
the best ways to foster an engineering mindset, as well as promote and maintain
the curiosity and open-mindedness of students to novel ideas. To integrate research into the
classroom, I strongly endorse the flipped classroom as a pedagogical teaching
model. In this model, I present a complex problem that is related to the course
material and the students need to implement this assignment during the class.
During that time I provide them with immediate feedback. They work in groups,
exploring solutions and preparing materials for a classroom presentation.
Students can not only conquer their anxiety and confusion but even become
enthusiastic about their ideas for solving problems, implementing independent
research, and designing their own coursework.

I have had extensive
opportunities to teach courses on diverse topics. I served as Lecturer and Assistant Professor for a
number of undergraduate and graduate courses of Special Chemistry Program at
Alexandria University and mentored two MS students and one PhD student. This
program has an innovative curriculum and research at the interface of
Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Physics, Biology and Applied Science.   I have taught the courses of Thermodynamics,
Chemical Kinetics, Surface Chemistry and Catalysis, Instrumental Analysis, and
Analytical Chemistry for undergraduate students and Statistical Thermodynamics
and Mass Transfer in Electrochemistry for graduate students.

During my PhD, I worked
as Teaching Assistant and taught General Chemistry, Organic Chemistry and
Inorganic Chemistry, in addition to the Advanced Inorganic Chemistry Course for
3 years which includes intensive information on the fundamentals of Inorganic
Chemistry and Materials Chemistry and the State-of-the-art research on Advanced
Materials. Also, I mentored nine undergraduate students,
two of them presented in the Castle Student Conference under my supervision and
one got co-authored a scientific paper with me. During
my postdoctoral experience, I enjoyed mentoring several undergraduates,
graduates, and post-docs and seeing their success that was exciting and
amazingly rewarding to me. I look forward to continuing this mentorship with my
future graduate students and post-docs.

Because of my interest on developing and
improving problem-solving approaches, I am most interested in teaching
foundational Chemical Engineering courses such as Mass and Energy balances,
Thermodynamics, Chemical Reaction Engineering, Separations, Transport
Phenomena, and Reaction Kinetics. Given my research expertise, I would also be
interested in developing and teaching courses related to polymer science,
heterogeneous catalysis, porous materials and materials engineering.

Selected
Publications: (24 total + 3 under preparation, 15 first author, 4 corresponding
author, 592 citations, h-index14)

Elsaidi, S. K.; Mohamed, M.
H.; Banerjee, D.; Thallapally, P. K. Flexibility in
Metal-Organic Frameworks: A Fundamental Understanding. Coordination
Chemistry Reviews 2018, 358, 125-152.

Elsaidi, S.; Sinnwell, M.; Banerjee, D.; Devaraj, A.; Kukkadapu, R.; Droubay, T.; Nie, Z.; Kovarik, L.; Manandhar, S.; Nandasiri, M.; McGrail, B.; Thallapally, P.; Vijayakumar,
M. Reduced Magnetism in Core-Shell Magnetite@MOF
Composites. Nano Letters 2017, 17, 6968-6973.

Elsaidi, S. K.; Mohamed, M. H.; Simon, C. M.; Braun, E.; Pham, T.; Forrest, K.;
Xu, W.; Space, B.; Zaworotko, M. J.; Thallapally, P. K. Effect of Ring Rotation upon Gas
Adsorption in SIFSIX-3- M (M = Fe, Ni) Pillared Square Grid Networks. Chemical
Science 2017, 8, 2373-2380.

Zong, Z.; Elsaidi,
S. K.; Thallapally, P. K.; Carreon, M. A. Highly
Permeable AlPO-18 Membranes for N₂/CH₄ Separation. Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research
2017, 56, 4113-4118.

Mohamed, M. H.;
Elsaidi, S. K.* Pham, T.;
Forrest, K.;  Schaef,
H.; Hogan, A.; Wojtas, L.; Space, B.; Zaworotko, M. J.; Thallapally, P.
K. Hybrid Ultramicroporous Materials for Selective Xe Adsorption and Separation. Angewandte
Chemie International Edition 2016, 55,
8285

Elsaidi, S. K.; Mohamed, M. H.; Loring, J.S.; 
McGrail, B. P.; Thallapally,
P. K. Covalent Coordination Frameworks: A New Route for Synthesis and Expansion
of Functional Porous Materials. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 2016,
8, 28424.

Elsaidi, S. K.; Mohamed, M.
H.; Wojtas, L.; Chanthapally,
A.; Pham, T.; Space, B.; Vittal, J. J.; Zaworotko, M. J, Putting the squeeze on CH₄ and
CO₂ through control over interpenetration in diamondoid
nets. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2014, 136, 5072.

Patents:
(1 published, 1 submitted, 2 under preparation) 

Michael J. Zaworotko, Mona H. Mohamed,
and Sameh K. Elsaidi,
Metal-Organic Materials (MOMs) for Adsorption of
Polarizable Gases and Methods of Using MOMs, US
9676807.