Dr. Muhammad Aftab Akram

Aftab.akram@fcm3.paf-iast.edu.pk

Dr. Muhammad Aftab Akram

Assistant Professor & HOD

Biography

Dr. Aftab Akram completed his Bachelor’s degree in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering from the University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore and was awarded with NUST fellowship for MS leading to PhD in Materials and Surface Engineering from SCME. He was awarded Presidential Gold Medal in 7th postgraduate convocation of NUST for his best performance in academics. He joined the Department of Materials Engineering at SCME NUST in May 2017 as Assistant Professor.

Dr Aftab have published more than 65 research articles so far with a cumulative impact factor of above 300. He has above 1200 citations with an H-index of 20 & an i-10 index of 38 to his credit. He has been granted 13 million PKR research funding under HEC NRPU scheme as Pl on “Fabrication Characterization and Testing of Nanostructured Devices for Efficient Energy Storage and Conversion” and has won six other funded projects from HEC & Industry as PI as well. He has also won funding of about 50 million PKR as Co-PI for different projects. He has presented his research work in several international conferences organized in USA, Poland, Thailand, China and France. He is also serving as editor & reviewer in several reputed international research journals and was awarded ‘Outstanding Reviewer Award’ by Elsevier in September 2017. Dr. Aftab is an active member of the American Chemical Society (ACS) & The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (TMS) USA . Due to his outstanding research and teaching performance, he was awarded ‘SCME best researcher award’ in 2018-19, ‘performance-based increments’ in 2020 & 2021 and appreciation certificate for performance in research from 2019 to 2021.

Professional Appointments

  • Assistant Professor, Department of Materials Science & Engineering PAF-IAST 2022 to present
  • Associate Professor Department of Materials Engineering, SCME NUST, Pakistan, Feb 2022 – May 2022
  • Assistant Professor Department of Materials Engineering, SCME, NUST, Pakistan, 2017 – 2022

Education

  • Ph.D. in Materials and Surface Engineering, SCME, NUST, Pakistan 2017
  • MS in Materials and Surface Engineering, NUST), Pakistan, 2010
  • B.Sc. Engg. (honors) in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, 2008

Projects

  • HEC NRPU Project #9998 Fabrication Characterization and Testing of Nanostructured Devices for Efficient Energy Storage and Conversion [2 Million PKR]
  • HEC SRGP Project#1768 “Fabrication and Characterization of 2 Dimensional Materials for Energy Storage Devices” [5 Million PKR Completed]
  • RAC-IV Project “ZnO Nanostructure for UV and Gas Sensing Applications” [0.1 Million PKR Completed]
  • RAC-VI Project “Flexible Conductive Materials Development for EMI Shielding [0.25 M PKR Completed]”
  • RAC-VII Project “Design and Development of an EMI shield for Cable” [0.25 M PKR Completed]
  • RAC-IX Project “Carbon Fiber Reinforced Epoxy Based Structural Energy Storage Composites” [1.0 M PKR]
  • Industrial Project “Development of Tungsten Chromium Hard Coatings via Electroplating” [0.5 M PKR]

Publications

[1] M. Rabeel, S. Javed, R. Khan, M.A. Akram, S. Rehman, D.-k. Kim, M.F.J.M. Khan, Controlling the Wettability of ZnO Thin Films by Spray Pyrolysis for Photocatalytic Applications, Materials (Basel) 15(9) (2022) 3364.

[2] A.A. Qureshi, S. Javed, H.M.A. Javed, M. Jamshaid, U. Ali, M.A.J.N. Akram, Systematic Investigation of Structural, Morphological, Thermal, Optoelectronic, and Magnetic Properties of High-Purity Hematite/Magnetite Nanoparticles for Optoelectronics, Nanomaterials (Basel) 12(10) (2022) 1635.

[3] H.M.A. Javed, M. Adnan, A.A. Qureshi, S. Javed, M. Adeel, M.A. Akram, M. Shahid, M. Irfan Ahmad, M. Afzaal, H.S.M. Abd-Rabboh, M. Arif, Morphological, structural, thermal and optical properties of Zn/Mg-doped TiO2 nanostructures for optoelectronic applications, Optics & Laser Technology 146 (2022) 107566.

[4] A. Akram, M.A. Liaqat, S. Javed, M. Hamid, U. Ali, F. Javed, M. Wei, M.A. Akram, Ultrahigh performance asymmetric supercapacitor devices with synergetic interaction between metal organic frameworks/graphene nano platelets and redox additive electrolyte, J. Alloys Compd. 891 (2022) 161961.

[5] M. Usman, M.T. Ahsan, S. Javed, Z. Ali, Y. Zhan, I. Ahmed, S. Butt, M. Islam, A. Mahmood, M.A. Akram, Facile synthesis of iron nickel cobalt ternary oxide (FNCO) mesoporous nanowires as electrode material for supercapacitor application, Journal of Materiomics  (2021).

Research Interests:

  • Development of nanomaterials and nanostructures for efficient energy storage devices.
  • Development of materials and technologies for all solid state batteries.
  • Photoelectrochemical water splitting for Hydrogen production.
  • Development of low cost Photovoltaic devices.
  • Synthesis and applications of 2D materials.
  • Nanocomposites for electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding applications.