Dr. Ali Rauf is an Associate Professor with Tenure in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at LUMS. He received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Sungkyunkwan University, South Korea, where he specialized in the design and synthesis of heterostructured photocatalysts for energy and environmental applications. He also holds a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of the Punjab.
Dr. Rauf joined LUMS in 2018 as one of the founding faculty members of the Chemical Engineering Programme and currently serves as its Head. He has contributed extensively to the Programme’s academic development through teaching, curriculum design, accreditation, staff recruitment, quality enhancement, and industry–academia engagement. His teaching portfolio includes core undergraduate and graduate courses in reaction engineering, separation processes, heat and mass transfer, numerical methods, environmental engineering, and electrochemical energy conversion.
His research focuses on electrochemistry, photocatalysis, catalytic materials, and sustainable energy conversion. Current research directions include electrochemical CO₂ reduction to formate, nitrate reduction to ammonia, paired electrolysis for sustainable chemical production, water splitting, and waste valorisation. His group investigates metal oxides and chalcogenides, metal phthalocyanines, MXenes, polymers, doped carbon, and multicomponent heterostructures as catalysts and electrode materials. He also integrates density functional theory with experimental research to understand reaction mechanisms and guide catalyst design.
Dr. Rauf has authored or co-authored 24 peer-reviewed publications and led academic and industry-oriented projects supported by the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan, the British Council, LUMS, and Fatima Fertilizer Company Limited. His research profile was also featured in the RSC Advances Emerging Investigator Series.
Areas of specialization: Electrochemistry, photocatalysis, catalytic materials, sustainable energy conversion, and DFT-supported catalyst design.
| Title | Publication | Author | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Engineering hyperpolarizable coinage metal-functionalized P-flowers for next-generation photonic devices | Journal of Molecular Graphics and Modelling | Siddique S.A., Afzal K., Arshad M., Rauf A., Qureshi M.Z., Ambreen N., Saleem M., Siddique M.B.A., | 2026 |
| Accurate Prediction of Opto-Electronic Properties of WO3: A Beyond-DFT Study | Chemistryselect | Ali M., Javed A., Bashir I., Rauf A., | 2025 |
| Modulating band gap and optical activity in GaN/Zr2CO2 Heterostructure via stacking strategies for promising optoelectronic applications | Computational Materials Science | Ghafoor F., Ali M., Rafiq M.A., Siddique F., Ali A., Rauf A., | 2025 |
| Development of a Data-Driven Techno-Economic and Environmental Framework for Solar Energy Deployment in the Energy Mix: A Case Study of Pakistan | International Journal of Energy Research | Abbas A., Khan M.A., Tahir M.M., Zaffar N.A., Rauf A., Dickson R., | 2025 |
| Quantum chemical investigation for enhanced electrochemical sensing of toxic gases by hexaazaphenH2 | New Journal of Chemistry | Siddique S.A., Siddique M.B.A., Ahmed E., Ullah A., Rauf A., Ali M.A., Mahmood T., Rauf A., Arshad M., | 2024 |
| Unveiling the Electronic Structure of SnS for Photocatalytic Applications: A DFT Approach??? | Chemistryselect | Ali M., Rauf A., Ali A., | 2024 |
| Discovery of pyrrole-triphenylamine based novel organic sensitizers for dye-sensitized solar cells: A first principal study | Materials Science in Semiconductor Processing | Siddique S.A., Ali B., Siddique M.B.A., Rauf A., Hussain R., Ali M.A., Mahmood T., Altaf S., Rauf A., Alanazi S.J.F., Al-Mohaimeed A.M., Liu X., Arshad M., | 2024 |
| Sustainable Formate Synthesis: Integrating Ethylene Glycol Oxidation with Carbon Dioxide Electrocatalysis Using Redox-Stabilized Earth-Abundant Electrodes | ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering | Bashir I., McGettrick J.D., Kuhnel M.F., Sarfraz B., Arshad S.N., Rauf A., | 2024 |
| Growth of carbon nanotubes over carbon nanofibers catalyzed by bimetallic alloy nanoparticles as a bifunctional electrode for Zn-air batteries | Rsc Advances | Aziz I., Chen X., Hu X., Zhang W., Awan R.J., Rauf A., Arshad S.N., | 2023 |
| CuS/NiFe-LDH/NF as a Bifunctional Electrocatalyst for Hydrogen Evolution (HER) and Oxygen Evolution Reactions (OER) | Fuel | Sarfraz B., Bashir I., Rauf A., | 2023 |
| Theoretical investigation of the optoelectronic response of highly correlated Cu3P photocatalyst | Rsc Advances | Ahmad H., Rauf A., Muhammad S., | 2022 |
| Development of Electromagnetic Shielding Material from Conductive Blends of Polyaniline/Polystyrene-isoprene-styrene Copolymer | Chemistryselect | Khalid H., Umer A., Afzal H.M., Ali G., Rauf A., | 2021 |
| First-principles study on the electronic and optical properties of Bi2WO6 | Rsc Advances | Ahmad H., Rauf A., Ahmad A., Ulhaq A., Muhammad S., | 2021 |
| Highly Stable Zero-Stain Na2MoO4/C Nanocomposite Anode for Long Life Na-Ion Batteries | ACS Applied Energy Materials | Ali G., Kiani A.J., Iftikhar F.J., Abbas Kazmi S.A., Akbar M., Rauf A., Chung K.Y., | 2021 |
| P-doped TiO2 Nanofibers Decorated with Ag Nanoparticles for Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity under Simulated Solar Light | Chemistryselect | Ghafoor S., Aftab F., Rauf A., Duran H., Kirchhoff K., Arshad S.N., | 2020 |
| Techno-economic assessment of process integration models for boosting hydrogen production potential from coal and natural gas feedstocks | Fuel | Hamid U., Rauf A., Ahmed U., Selim Arif Sher Shah M., Ahmad N., | 2020 |
| Electrostatically regulated ternary-doped carbon foams with exposed active sites as metal-free oxygen reduction electrocatalysts | Nanoscale | Sher Shah M.S.A., Lee J., Rauf A., Park J.H., Lim B., Yoo P.J., | 2018 |
| Mediator- and co-catalyst-free direct Z-scheme composites of Bi2WO6-Cu3P for solar-water splitting | Nanoscale | Rauf A., Ma M., Kim S., Shah M.S.A.S., Chung C.-H., Park J.H., Yoo P.J., | 2018 |
| Non-stoichiometric SnS microspheres with highly enhanced photoreduction efficiency for Cr(VI) ions | Rsc Advances | Rauf A., Arif Sher Shah M.S., Lee J.Y., Chung C.-H., Bae J.W., Yoo P.J., | 2017 |
| Highly interdigitated and porous architected ternary composite of SnS2, g-C3N4, and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) as high performance lithium ion battery anodes | Rsc Advances | Sher Shah Md.S.A., Park A.R., Rauf A., Hong S.H., Choi Y., Park J., Kim J., Kim W.-J., Yoo P.J., | 2017 |
| Facile Synthesis of Hierarchically Structured Bi2S3/Bi2WO6 Photocatalysts for Highly Efficient Reduction of Cr(VI) | ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering | Rauf A., Sher Shah M.S.A., Choi G.H., Humayoun U.B., Yoon D.H., Bae J.W., Park J., Kim W.-J., Yoo P.J., | 2015 |
| Self-supported Ag/AgCl nanoparticles incorporated polymeric multilayer films for reusable electrophotocatalyst | Materials Express | Shah M.S.A.S., Kim Y.H., Park R., Rauf A., Yoo P.J., | 2015 |
| Particle-nested inverse opal structures as hierarchically structured large-scale membranes with tunable separation properties | ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces | Rhee D.K., Jung B., Kim Y.H., Yeo S.J., Choi S.-J., Rauf A., Han S., Yi G.-R., Lee D., Yoo P.J., | 2014 |
