Research Interests

1. Nanostructure fabrication and characterization. We mainly focus on the use of physical methods to control the growth of nanostructures. We are working on an oblique angle deposition method, or a glancing angle deposition.
2. Liquid-nanostructure interaction. Nanostructure not only changes the surface morphology, but also alters the chemical composition of a surface. We are interested in how those changes alter the static and dynamic wetting process.
3. Novel nanostructures for chemical and biological sensors. Due to their extraordinary physical, chemical, mechanical and biological properties, nanostructured materials have been used as high sensitivity and high performance sensor materials or devices. We are interested in incorporating low temperature nanostructures into chemical and biological sensors to detect nerve gas, explosives, toxins, viruses, and pathogens.
4. New energy materials and devices. Currently we are interested in hydrogen storage materials and hydrogen generation though solar cells.
5. Biomaterials for cellular engineering. We are particularly interested in how to design micro-/nano-substrates to control cell growth behavior and networking.

Z.-Z. Wu, Y.-P. Zhao and W. S. Kisaalita, “Interfacing SH-SY5Y human neuroblastoma cells with SU-8 microstructures,” Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces 52 (2006) 14-21.

Jiaguang Han, Zhiyuan Zhu, Sanith Ray, Abul K. Azad, Weili Zhang, Mingxia He, Shihong Li and Yiping Zhao, “Optical and dielectric properties of ZnO tetrapod structures at terahertz frequencies,” Appl. Phys. Lett. 89 (2006) 031107.

Z.-Y. Zhang and Y.-P. Zhao, “Tuning the optical absorption properties by engineering the topologic shape of Ag nanorods,” Appl. Phys. Lett. 89 (2006) 023110.

Y.-P. Zhao, S.-H. Li, S. B. Chaney, S. Shanmukh, J.-G. Fan, R. A. Dluhy, and W. Kisaalita, “Designing nanostructures for sensor applications,” J. Electric Mater. 35 (2006) 846 – 851.

J.-G. Fan and Y.-P. Zhao, “Characterization of watermarks formed in nano-carpet effect,” Langmuir 22, 3662 (2006). Y.-P. Zhao, Stephen B. Chaney, Saratchandra Shanmukh, and Richard A. Dluhy, “Polarized surface enhanced Raman and absorbance spectra of aligned Silver nanorod arrays,” J. Phys. Chem. B 110 (2006) 3153.

Y.-P. Zhao and J.-G. Fan, “Clusters of bundled nanorods in nanocarpet effect,” Appl. Phys. Lett. 88 (2006) 103123.

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