Mahendra Kumar
Research Scientist
Affiliation: NYU Abu Dhabi
Education: PhD, Bhavnagar University
Research Websites: Water Research Center (WRC)
Research Areas: Synthesis of multifunctional aromatic copolymers and polymer chains grafted novel versatile nanofillers for water treatment and desalination
Mahendra Kumar obtained a PhD in polymer chemistry and membrane technology from the Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute (a premier research institute in India) at Bhavnagar University. He has received international fellowships: Marie Curie, Alexander von Humboldt, and IRC postdoctoral fellowship, Technology Innovative Development Award from the European Commission, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Irish Research Council, and Science Foundation Ireland. He has 14 years of research experience as a postdoctoral fellow/research scientist/senior researcher at international universities in Germany, Ireland, Saudi Arabia, the UK, and the UAE. He has supervised a team of co-workers, PhD students, and undergraduate students during his research tenure.
Summary of Research
Working on synthesis of multifunctional aromatic copolymers and polymer chains grafted novel versatile nanofillers for water treatment and desalination. Polymeric hybrid UF, MF, and NF membranes are designed and manufactured using multifunctional aromatic copolymers and polymer chains grafted nanofillers. Multifunctional novel nanofillers are utilized in developing thin film nanocomposite membranes via a scalable interfacial polymerization for nanofiltration (NF) and reverse osmosis (RO) enabled integrated water treatment process and brine management. Hydrophobic and conducting membranes also fabricated using hydrophobic nanomaterials and conducting polymers by electrospinning, spray coating, and phase inversion for seawater desalination via membrane distillation without light and under exposure to solar radiation.