Our group's main research theme focuses on the synthesis and design of specialty polymers targeted to a specific application. research areas include; Toxic metal ion removal in aqueous solution and hydrocarbon media: as a major concern to the environment. Polymers with specific functional groups are designed to selectively remove a certain type of metals from aqueous solutions. Also, targeting metal ions and metal-organic toxic metals; during the last two years a deep focus on the development of polymeric materials that have the ability to remove mercury for the natural gas streams as mercury has toxic effects on the environment and also has a direct effect on the destruction of catalysts used in hydrocarbon cracking. Development of new materials with enhanced properties. This theme targets combining nanomaterials with polymers for enhancing the capabilities of the polymeric materials. In this area, the focus is targeted on covalently bonding nanomaterials with polymers. Another target is the chemical modification of polymers by the addition of selected functional groups for enhanced selectivity and operation under different media. Natural gas treatment: In the previous themes the polymers are produced by combining flexible and rigid monomeric units to form polymers with specific properties. In this theme, the focus is on the design of highly porous organic polymers that are selective for the removal of contaminants from natural gas streams.
