AS

Ahmed Mortuza Saleque

King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, University of California, Davis, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, University of Nottingham, American International University-Bangladesh

Research areas: Energy · Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment · Solar-Powered Water Purification Methods · Adsorption and Cooling Systems · Solar Thermal and Photovoltaic Systems

ORCID iD 0000-0002-2124-8721
Follow

About

Ahmed Mortuza Saleque, Ph.D. is a researcher in applied physics, nanomaterials, photothermal energy conversion, optics, photonics, and advanced energy-water technologies. He is currently working at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), where he leads applied research on the Saudi Aramco-funded brine-to-mineral project, focusing on lithium enrichment and critical mineral recovery from oilfield brines.
His current work involves solar evaporation, salt-rejecting evaporator systems, nanomaterials, advanced surface engineering, selective salt crystallization, ion separation, and brine concentration strategies before direct lithium extraction (DLE). Through this work, he contributes to sustainable brine treatment, low-energy resource recovery, and critical mineral development aligned with Saudi Vision 2030.
Previously, Dr. Saleque worked as a Postdoctoral Scholar at the University of California, Davis, and conducted research at the Marvell Nanofabrication Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley. Before joining the University of California, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong.
His research interests include nano-micro fabrication, 2D materials, MXene, photothermal energy conversion, optics, photonics, solar-driven interfacial evaporation, and nanomaterial-enabled energy and water technologies. He has authored more than 25 SCI-indexed journal articles, received 2350+ citations, and presented his research at over 28 scientific conferences.
Dr. Saleque earned his Ph.D. in Applied Physics from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University with support from the Hong Kong Ph.D. Fellowship Scheme (HKPFS). He also received the Erasmus Mundus Scholarship for his joint master’s program in Sustainable Transportation and Electrical Power Systems (EMMC-STEPS) at the University of Nottingham, University of Oviedo, and University of Rome. He was also a visiting scholar at the Wisconsin Electric Machines and Power Electronics Consortium (WEMPEC), University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA.
He received his B.Sc. in Electrical and Electronic Engineering and M.Eng. in Telecommunications from American International University-Bangladesh, where he later served as a Lecturer and was promoted to Assistant Professor. Overall, he has more than 15 years of academic and research experience across Asia, Europe, the United States, and the Middle East.

SKILLS:

Deposition, Etching, and Fabrication:
Cleanroom fabrication, photolithography, dry and wet etching, thin-film deposition, III-V and silicon photonics integration, solar cell fabrication, glove box fabrication, laser fabrication, spin coating, nano/microfabrication, nanomaterial synthesis, MXene processing, surface modification, and advanced surface engineering.

Device Characterizations:
SEM, TEM, HRTEM, FTIR, AFM, profilometer, optical microscopy, imaging, XRD, EDS, ellipsometry, spectroscopy, photoluminescence, solar simulator, 4-probe measurement, thermal/optical characterization, evaporation performance testing, brine analysis, salt crystallization analysis, and ion concentration evaluation.

Analytical and Soft Skills:
MATLAB, Lumerical, FDTD, TMM, Klayout, SPICE, experimental design, data analysis, scientific writing, manuscript preparation, proposal development, conference presentation, research communication, interdisciplinary collaboration, and industry-oriented problem solving.

Fundamentals:
Device physics, applied physics, electromagnetics, optics and photonics, nanomaterials, photothermal energy conversion, solar-driven evaporation, interfacial evaporation, heat and mass transfer, brine concentration, ion separation, selective salt crystallization, lithium enrichment, critical mineral recovery, and DLE pre-treatment.

Leadership Skills:
Project leadership, research planning, team supervision, student mentoring, cross-institutional collaboration, industry collaboration, Saudi Aramco project coordination, scale-up planning, field validation support, stakeholder communication, timeline management, technical reporting, and strategic research development.

Employment

Education

Projects & Funding

  • Hong Kong Ph.D. Fellowship Scheme (HKPFS) Hong Kong, SAR Govt.
    2019 - Present
  • Erasmus Mundus Grant for Master's Program European Union
    2013 - 2015
  • BSC scholarship American International University-Bangladesh
    2007 - 2010

Publications (58)