Mady Elbahri

Mady Elbahri (Arabic: مادي البحري‎) is a German scientist with Palestinian/Egyptian roots, known as the father of Leidenfrost Chemistry and for the Polarizonic Effect. Shortly after acquiring his Doctoral degree in Jan. 2008, Elbahri was assigned as a Head of Department “Electrospinning” at Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht Germany in Mar. 2009, and as a Professor at the Faculty of Engineering,University of Kiel in Jun. 2009 making him one of the fastest academics to obtain a professorship from his graduation date. Currently Elbahri is a Professor at Department of Chemistry and Materials Science,https://www.aalto.fi/en/department-of-chemistry-and-materials-science Aalto University (former Helsinki University of Technology), Finland, where he leads the Nanochemistry and Nanoengineering Group that focuses on establishing new sophisticated routes for sustainable fabrication, simulation, and design of advanced functional nanomaterials and polymer-based nanocomposites for energy, environment, life science, and art.
==Education==
Elbahri started his academic career by completing a Bachelor's Degree in Chemistry from Cairo University, Egypt in 1994. Post to his Bachelor, Elbahri relocated to Germany, where he learned the German language and was able to achieve a DSH Certificate in 2001. He then obtained his German Diploma in Chemistry and pursued a Master of Science in Polymer Chemistry, Technical Chemistry from Clausthal University of Technology, Germany under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Gudrun Schmidt-Naake in 2003. Directly after his Master's Degree, Elbahri enrolled by the Chair for Multicomponent Materials in University of Kiel Kiel, Germany, where he graduated as a Dr.- Ing. with distinction under the supervision of Prof. Franz Faupel & Prof. Dr. Rainer Adelung in 2008. Elbahri's academic achievements didn't stop after his Doctoral Degree, but he also completed the Habilitation equivalent in the field of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology in 2013 and the traditional German Habilitation in Material Science under the scope of Dipolar Photonics and Plasmonics for Green Energy in 2017.
 
==Career==
Before pursuing a career in academia, Elbahri used to work as a Chemist and a Group Leader in R&D Quality Control from 1994 till 1999. However, Elbahri's professional career started after his master's degree graduation where he was assigned as a Research Associate at Clausthal University of Technology, Germany Institute of Technical Chemistry under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Gudrun Schmidt-Naake in 2003, and then later as a Postdoctoral researcher at University of Kiel, Kiel under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Rainer Adelung from 2008 till 2009. Shortly after acquiring his Doctoral degree in Jan. 2008, Elbahri was assigned as a Head of Department “Electrospinning” at Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht Germany in Mar. 2009, and as a Professor of Nanochemistry and Nanoengineering at the Faculty of Engineering,University of Kiel in June. 2009 making him one of the fastest academics to obtain a professorship from his graduation date. 
Elbahri currently holds many positions including:
*Professor at the School of Chemical Technology, Aalto University, Helsinki, Finland since Jul. 2016.
*Privatdozent and Lecturer at the Faculty of Engineering University of Kiel, Germany since Jan. 2017.
*Visiting and Volunteer Adjunct Professor Zewail City of Science and Technology, Egypt since Apr. 2016.
==Research==
Professor Mady Elbahri’s group Nanochemistry and Nanoengineering pursue innovative research in Advanced Functional Nanomaterials for sustainable and green nanotechnology with respect to the design, synthesis, and engineering. These Nanomaterials are generated by a wide spectrum of methodologies and synthesis routes such as Leidenfrost-technique, electrospinning, physical vapor deposition, and biogenic approaches that would passivate the way towards improving the energy efficiency of many systems, the purification of water via sunlight, and advance nanomedicine.
Following the vision of “from research and technology to business”, NanoTori Oyhttps://www.nanotori.eu/ established by Elbahri in 2020, is a part of a successful technology transfer. In addition to innovative nanotechnological approaches for industry, NanoTori also offers pedagogical concepts for nano-literacy in society by teaching complex methods of nanotechnology in simple terms.
==Significant Scientific Contribution==
Prof. Elabhri's diversity in many research fields has promoted him to develop innovative solutions that would tackle the current world's problems in terms of energy, environment, life science, and water. Thus acquiring more than 13 patents and published tens of scientific papers in high impact factor journals such as Nature Materials, and Advanced Materials.
He also has been highlighted in several press releases and interviews such as Nature Asia, Nature photonics, Nature MiddleEast, American Chemical Society (ACS), Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), Advanced Science News, The Guardian, Die Welt, Spiegel, Bild, Bergedorfer Zeitung, Kieler Nachrichten (University press), Clinical Lab Products, and Science Daily.
==Leidenfrost Synthesis==
However while considering “every water droplet counts”–in chemical systems as well as in our life and environment, Elbahri introduced the levitated Leidenfrost water droplet as an ideal reactant and even more as a chemical reactor, self-organizer, and nano delivery tool. A method that started in his kitchen home and then was transferred to the lab at the University of Kiel is set to be one of the greenest and efficient routes to synthesize nanomaterials and perform 3D coatings “Elbahri Synthesis”, as researchers at Kiel University called it or the hydrodynamic chemistry at the Leidenfrost condition was the seed of Elbahri to be awarded the Nanoscience award of 2007 in Germany. Elbahri and his group are focused on utilizing this novel and unique nanochemistry discipline into many notable applications such as nanostructuring, nanofabrication, nanotherapeutics, and optics.
==Polarizonic Effect/ Polarizonic Coloration==
The Polarizonic effect, also known as Polarizonic Coloration, is the specular reflection of the oscillating dipoles of an excited matter upon its interaction with light. This effect has been introduced by Elbahri as a physical principle that attempts to explain the realism of color perceived from our surroundings. It originates from the dynamic polarizability of the oscillating dipoles, in which the real part of the polarizability governs the reflection of an electromagnetic wave that produces a unique specular reflective color, while the imaginary part governs the absorption. Indeed, the dipolar specular reflection is a cooperative process that arises even in a disordered state. Polarizonic effect can be seen not only in metallic nanoparticles or nanocomposites, but also in metal-oxides and in even more complex and dynamic structures such as photoswitchable molecules The Polarizonic Interference concept allows a deep understanding of phenomena that have been introduced previously by Elbahri's group such as fabricating a gold thin film that could be either transparent black or a colored perfect absorber This effect holds great promises in a diverse set of applications such as naked eye biodetection and artistic solar energy harvesting apparatuses
==Active Teaching for Innovative Education==
The best learning outcomes are rarely achieved without motivating the learner, in this regard, active teaching and learning methods have been proven useful. The “learn and innovate” strategy was set by Elbahri to enhance the students’ interest, conceptual understanding, and deep learning under full guiding instructions. This strategy focuses on encouraging students to conduct independent research while simultaneously acquiring high-level thinking skills. While its main working principle is to design appropriate instructional strategies and innovative research tasks and media, which leads to collaborative/cooperative learning, thus enhancing the students’ interaction with the course materials. The method supports the students to gain self-confidence, motivation, and the scientific skills required not only to address different research challenges but also to solve an exploratory research problem and the related experimental challenges. The “learn and innovate” approach has been proven to be a pivotal and novel active teaching strategy to stimulate the active learning of students and the innovative education-based Aha! effect.
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==Selected Awards & Prizes==
*DGM Prize, Germany, 2020.
*Distinction prize of the Egyptian Ministry of Higher Education, Berlin, 2014.
*Kajal Mallick Memorial Award, England, 2014. 
*Nanotechnology award in Idea competition, The Business Development and Technology Transfer Corporation of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, 2009.
*Helmholtz-University Young Investigator Group, Germany, 2009. 
*Nano Science Award of the BMBF, AGeNT-D, Germany, 2007.
==Important Publications==
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==Patents==
*Elbahri, Brewster Plasmonic Biosensor, Finland 10 2011113 571.9. 2017
*Elbahri, Hedayati, Zaporojtchenko, Strunskus, Faupel, Absorber layer for the VIS and/or NIR spectral range, DE102011113571 (A1) ? 2013-03-21 2011
*Elbahri, Homaeigohar, Dai, Abdelaziz, Biofunctionalized Ultrafiltration Membrane, US2012318731 (A1) ? 2012-12-20; EP20110169818 20110614 2011
*Elbahri, Adelung, Paretkar, Methods for Producing Nanostructures on Substrate, US 7914850 (B2) 2011
== References ==
== External Links ==
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* Mady Elbahri at Aalto University
* Mady Elbahri at Google Scholar
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Category:German scientists
Category:Egyptian scientists
Category:Cairo University alumni
Category:Clausthal University of Technology alumni
Category:German people of Palestinian descent
Category:German people of Egyptian descent