Research Interests
We investigate water-hydrophobe interfaces across some twelve orders of magnitude – molecular to kilometer scales – via a broad set of experimental techniques, theory, and computation. Problems of specific interest include, global food-water security through bio-inspired technologies, superhydrophobic insects and plants, chemical reactions “on-water” and in sprays, and nanoconfined liquids (dilute to ultraconcentrated).
Selected Publications
Why did only one genus of insects, Halobates , take to the high seas? PLOS Biology (2022) 20(4) DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3001570Effects of Superhydrophobic Sand Mulching on Evapotranspiration and Phenotypic Responses in Tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum ) under Normal and Reduced Irrigation (2022) DOI: 10.1002/pei3.10074 (Journal cover) Nature-Inspired Superhydrophobic Sand Mulches Increase Agricultural Productivity and Water-Use Efficiency in Arid Regions (2022), DOI: 10.1021/acsagscitech.1c00148 (Journal cover) Zwitterions Layer at but Do Not Screen Electrified Interfaces (2022), 126., 8, 1852-1860 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.1c10388On the Formation of Hydrogen Peroxide in Water Microdroplets (2022), 13, 2574-2583 DOI: 10.1039/D1SC06465G (Journal cover) Direct imaging of polymer filaments pulled from rebounding drops (2022), 18, 5097-5105 DOI: 10.1039/D2SM00599ASuppression of Leidenfrost effect on superhydrophobic surfaces (2021), 33, 122104 DOI: 10.1063/5.0064040The Air–Water Interface of Water Microdroplets Formed by Ultrasonication or Condensation Does Not Produce H2O2 How particle-particle and liquid-particle interactions govern the fate of evaporating liquid marbles (Journal cover) Nature‑inspired wax‑coated jute bags for reducing post‑harvest storage losses (2021), 11, 15354 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-93247-zGenerate DNA filaments with control using drop impact method (2021)Delayed Leidenfrost States on Hydrophobic Surfaces (2021), id.N01.13Polymer filaments from bouncing drop (2021), M12. 010Diffusion-driven directional wetting transitions Durable Gas-entrapping Microstructured Surfaces (GEMS) Wetting Behaviors of Liquid Nitrogen on Micro-textured Surfaces at Ultra-Low Temperatures Wetting Transitions: Counterintuitive Wetting Transitions in Doubly Reentrant Cavities as a Function of Surface Make‐Up, Hydrostatic Pressure, and Cavity Aspect Ratio 10.1002/admi.202070121 Electrification at Water-Hydrophobe Interfaces Nature Communications (2020) 11, 5285 (Nature Communications Editors’ Highlights) First-principles Based Rationally Designed Materials for treating Wastewaters International Journal of Quantum Chemistry (2020), DOI:10.1002/qua.26501 (Journal cover) Counterintuitive Wetting Transitions in Doubly Reentrant Cavities as a Function of Surface Make-up, Hydrostatic Pressure, and Cavity Aspect Ratio Advanced Materials Interfaces (2020), DOI:10.1002/admi.202001268 (Journal cover) Biomimetic Coating-free Superomniphobicity Scientific Reports ( 2020), 10, Article number: 7934Superhydrophobicity and size reduction enabled Halobates (Insecta: Heteroptera, Gerridae) to colonize the open ocean Scientific Reports , 2020, 10, Article number: 7785A Molecular to Macro-Level Assessment of Direct Contact Membrane Distillation for Separating Organics from Water Journal of Membrane Science , 2020, Vol. 608, 118140Mitigating Cavitation Erosion Using Biomimetic Gas-Entrapping Microtextured Surfaces (GEMS) Science Advances , 2020, Vol. 6, No. 13, eaax6192Nuclear Quantum Effects in Hydrophobic Nanoconfinement Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, 2019, 10, 5530-5535 (Journal cover) Bio-inspired Gas-entrapping Membranes (GEMs) Derived from Common Water-wet Materials for Green Desalination Journal of Membrane Science The chemical reactions in electrosprays of water do not always correspond to those at the pristine air–water interface Chemical Science (2018) 10(9), 2566-2577 (Journal cover) Biomimetic coating-free surfaces for long-term entrapment of air under wetting liquids Nature Communications , volume
9, Article number: 3606, (2018)
Assessing omniphobicity by immersion Journal of Colloid and Interface Science , Vol 534,
pp. 156-162, (2019)
Evaluating the Potential of Superhydrophobic Nanoporous Alumina Membranes for Direct Contact Membrane Distillation Journal of Colloid and Interface Science , Vol. 533, pp. 723-732, (2019)Doubly Reentrant Cavities Prevent Catastrophic Wetting Transitions on Intrinsically Wetting Surfaces ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces ,
9 (25), pp. 21532-21538, (2017)Time-Dependent Wetting Behavior of PDMS Surfaces with Bioinspired, Hierarchical Structures ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces , Volume 8, Issue 12, pp. 8168-8174, (2016)Brønsted basicity of the air-water interface Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences, 109(46) 18679-18683, (2012)Anions dramatically enhance proton transfer across aqueous interfaces Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences , 109(26), pp. 10228-10232, (2012)Quantum chemical insights into the dissociation of nitric acid on the surface of aqueous electrolytes International Journal of Quantum Chemistry , 113(4), pp. 413-417, (2012)Branched polymer resins with high binding capacity and selectivity for boron in aqueous solutions Environmental Science &Technology , 46, pp. 8998-9004, (2012)
Education
Ph.D., Materials Science, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, USA, 2013
M.S., Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University, Indiana, USA, 2007
B.S., Mechanical Engineering, Punjab Engineering College, India, 2005
Professional Profile
2020-Present: Associate Professor, Environmental Science and Engineering, KAUST, Saudi Arabia 2014-2020: Assistant Professor, Environmental Science and Engineering, KAUST, Saudi Arabia 2014: The Elings Prize Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California Santa Barbara, USA
Awards
Awards and Recognitions:
2022: Golden Jubilee Visiting Fellowship Endowment awarded by ICT, Mumbai, India. 2022: Cover Article, Chemical Science , DOI: 10.1039/D1SC06465G 2020: Editors’ Highlights, Nature Communications, DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-19054-8 2020: Cover Article, Advanced Materials Interfaces, DOI:10.1002/admi.202001268 2020: Cover Article, International Journal of Quantum Chemistry, DOI:10.1002/qua.26501 2020: Student delegate to the 70th Lindau Nobel Laureate Interdisciplinary Meeting: Adair Gallo Jr., PhD student 2019: Invited lecture: Physical Chemistry Seminar, College of Chemistry, University of California Berkeley, CA, USA 2019: Invited lecture: Chemical Physics Seminar, Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA 2019: Best Poster Prize, 45th International Conference on Micro and Nano Engineering, Rhodes, Greece (Zain Ahmad, MS student) (Out of 404 entries; cash prize: 400 Euros) 2019: Session Chair, Wetting on Soft or Microtextured Surfaces, Bad Honnef, Germany (Host: Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Mainz) 2019: Cover Article, Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, DOI:10.1021/acs.jpclett.9b01835 2019: Cover Article, Chemical Science, 10, 2566–2577, DOI: 10.1039/C8SC05538F 2018: Lecture at the United Nations COP-24 meeting on climate change at Katowice, Poland, got >92k views on Facebook through Institute of Sustainable Development (IISD) reporting. 2017: Elsevier Best Poster Award, 7th International Colloids Conference, Sitges-Barcelona, Spain (Presenter: H. Mishra )
2017: First Place, Doctoral Level Students Poster Contest, 5th Water Arabia Conference and Exhibition, Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia (2017) (Presenter: Adair Gallo Jr. , Ph.D. student ) 2016: Best Presentation Award, International Conference on Science and Technology of Emerging Materials (STEMa, 2016), Thailand (Presenter: H. Mishra ) 2016: Cover Article, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, DOI: 10.1021/acsami.5b10721 2014: The Elings Prize Postdoctoral Fellow, California NanoSystems Institute, University of California Santa Barbara, USA
KAUST Affiliations
Interfacial Laboratory (iLab) Water Desalination and Reuse Center (WDRC) Division of Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering (BESE)
