Biography

Yehia was born in Egypt and attended school in Kuwait. He relocated to the University of Minnesota Morris when he was 18 to obtain his Chemistry BA (2013), where he researched porphyrins in dye-sensitized solar cells under Dr. Ted Pappenfus. Following undergraduate, he enrolled at the University of Delaware Chemistry and Biochemistry Analytical Ph.D. program and completed his thesis in 2018 with Dr. John Newberg, utilizing vacuum and in-situ near ambient pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (NAP-XPS) to study the interface of ionic liquids and ionic liquid binary mixtures. When he completed his Ph.D., he joined the Research Support Services team as the surface analysis laboratory manager. 

Research Interests: 

Yehia’s interests within surface analysis fall into three areas:  

• In-situ investigation of catalytic heterogeneous media for renewable energy applications 

• Design of “smart” surfaces that respond to specific environmental stimuli 

• Investigation of electrochemical processes coupled with XPS 
   

Relevant Publication list: 

Ning, S.; Zhang, S.; Sun, J.; Li, Congping Li, Z.; Khalifa, Y.; Zhou, S.; Cao, J.; Wu, Y. Ambient Pressure X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy Investigation of Thermally Stable Halide Perovskite Solar Cells via Post-Treatment. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 2020, 12, 43705-43713. 

Khalifa, Y.; Broderick, A.; Newberg J. T. Surface Enhancement of Water at the Ionic Liquid-Gas Interface of [HMIM][Cl], J. Phys.: Condens. Matter. 2018, 30, 325001.  

Zhang, Y.*; Khalifa, Y. *; Maggin, E.; Newberg J. T. Investigation of [EMIM][Acetate] and [EMIM][TFSI] Mixture at Liquid-Vacuum Interface Using Experiments and Molecular Dynamics Simulations, J. Phys. Chem. C 2018, 122, 27392-27401. 

Newberg, J. T.; Goodwin, C.; Arble, C.; Khalifa, Y.; Boscoboinik, J. A.; Rani, S. ZnO (101̅0) Surface Hydroxylation Under Ambient Water Vapor. J. Phys. Chem. B 2018, 122, 472-478. 

Khalifa, Y.; Broderick, A.; Newberg, J. T. Water Vapor Electron Scattering Cross-Section Measurements using a Hydrophobic Ionic Liquid. J. Electron Spectrosc. Relat. Phenom. 2017, 222, 162-166. 

Broderick, A.; Khalifa, Y.; Shiflett, M. B.; Newberg, J. T. Water at the Ionic Liquid-Gas Interface Examined by Ambient Pressure X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy. J. Phys. Chem. C 2017, 121, 7337-7343. 

Newberg, J. T.; Åhlund, J.; Arble, C.; Goodwin, C.; Khalifa, Y.; Broderick, A. A Lab-Based Ambient Pressure X-Ray Photoelectron Spectrometer with Exchangeable Analysis Chambers. Rev. Sci. Instrum. 2015, 86, 085113.