Research Overview

Professor Mohamed Saafi is a Full Professor and Research Chair at Lancaster University, where he leads a research group dedicated to the electrification, decarbonization, and digitalization of the built environment. His work brings together materials science, electrochemistry, computational modelling, energy harvesting and storage, artificial intelligence, and structural health monitoring to advance sustainable, resilient, and smart infrastructure.

His research is organized around six interconnected themes:

Electrification and decarbonization of construction materials: Professor Saafi develops low- and zero-carbon binders and composites produced through electrically driven and advanced manufacturing routes, displacing the fossil-fuel-intensive processes that dominate conventional cement and construction-material production. This includes carbon-negative materials derived from CO₂ and waste streams.

Low-carbon hydrogen production: His group designs electrochemical and materials-based systems that co-produce hydrogen alongside useful construction feedstocks, integrating clean hydrogen generation directly into material and infrastructure processes.

Energy generation from physical infrastructure: Professor Saafi works to transform the built environment into a distributed energy resource, developing multifunctional materials and systems that generate, store, and deliver electricity locally — turning structures themselves into green energy sources, batteries, and power-carrying assets.

Smart infrastructure management through digital twins: His group develops wireless, self-powered sensing technologies that feed real-time data into digital-twin frameworks, enabling continuous monitoring, predictive management, and assurance of structural integrity across the built environment and energy infrastructure.

Materials discovery via coupled multiscale modelling and artificial intelligence: Combining molecular dynamics, density functional theory, and AI, Professor Saafi pursues bottom-up design, topology optimization, and accelerated discovery of high-performance, self-sensing and self-healing cementitious and polymer-based composites.

Waste valorization: Across all themes, his research converts industrial, construction, and plastic waste into high-value structural and functional materials, advancing circular-economy approaches to infrastructure.

Professor Saafi has published over 100 peer-reviewed journal papers, and his research breakthroughs have been featured by major international news outlets. He has been named among the world's top 2% of scientists in the Stanford University ranking since 2023.