El Merhi focuses on water purification by integrating covalent organic frameworks (COFs) into filtration systems. She is co-developing green catalytic methods that use enzymes and solar energy to fully degrade pollutants or convert them into non-toxic, biodegradable compounds. Beyond filtration, she applies covalent organic frameworks (COFs) in medical diagnostics, designing ultra-sensitive electrochemical sensors for disease biomarkers to enable early-stage monitoring. One of her co-innovations, an attomolar-level glucose sensor currently at the pre-submission patent stage, can detect extremely low fluctuations with unprecedented sensitivity, allowing for early detection of disease.