个人简介

Education B.S. Polymer Sci. and Chem. Eng., Tsinghua University, China (1997) Ph.D. Materials Sci. and Eng., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2001) Professional Experience Senior Research Scientist, R&D, General Motors (2002-2003) Postdoc Fellow, Physics and DEAS, Harvard University (2003-2004) Assistant Professor, University of Notre Dame (2004-2009) Associate Professor, University of Notre Dame (2009-present)

研究领域

Physical/Analytical Chemistry

The overall objective of Professor Zhu's research is to understand, control and exploit the interfacial behaviors of soft materials, including colloids, polymer/biomacromolecules and etc., by using a set of novel experimental tools. The research primarily focuses on packing configuration, phase transition and slow dynamics of complex fluids confined at surface with an emphasis on materials processing, biomedical engineering, and medical applications. The main theme of the research program is to understand the structure and dynamics of confined molecules, macromolecules and colloids that are immediately at a surface. With the emerging fields of the fabrication of micro to nano-scaled devices to synthesis, design and release of a variety of advanced functional materials, the study of interfacial materials becomes more and more important. The properties of the involved molecules can be quite different from the bulk, owing to executed mechanical forces from local environments, reactivity of a matter at surface and the confinement effect, therefore, a fundamental study of such soft matter is in great demand. To enable the study of nanodynamics of complex fluids at an interface, Prof. Zhu's research group will combine a custom-built force measuring apparatus with techniques in microscopy, ultra-sensitive fluorescence spectroscopy, high-speed imaging as well as image analysis, and surface patterning. With the development of novel experimental approaches, unprecedented spatial and temporal resolution will be achieved for the investigation of a variety of complex interfaces. We will also utilize our knowledge of interfacial properties of soft materials at surface to design microfluidic devices for new materials synthesis and efficient bio-analysis. Of particular interest is the application of new techniques, such as drop-in-drop and encapsulation for the synthesis of lipid or polymer vesicles, colloidsomes, and living cell capsules. Micro- and nano-fluidics channels will also be used to study a variety of interesting topics in fluid dynamics and biophysics.

近期论文

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S. Wang and Y. Zhu, Manipulating single annealed polyelectrolyte chain under ac-electric fields: collapse versus accumulation, Biomicrofluidics 6, 024116 (2012). S. Wang, B. Jing and Y. Zhu, Single molecule diffusion on hard, soft and fluid surfaces,RSC Asvances 2, 3835- 3843 (2012). P. Sarangapani, A. B. Schofield and Y. Zhu, Relationship between cooperative motion and the confinement length scale in confined colloidal liquids, Soft Matter 8, 814-818 (2012). S. Wang and Y. Zhu, Conformation transition and electric potential of single weak polyelectrolyte: molecular weight dependence, Soft Matter 7, 7410-7415 (2011). B. Jing and Y. Zhu, Disruption of supported lipid bilayers by semihydrophobic nanoparticles, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 133, 10983-10989 (2011). P. Sarangapani and Y. Zhu, Direct experimental evidence of growing dynamic length scales in confined colloidal liquids, Phys. Rev. E. 83, 030502 (2011). S. Wang and Y. Zhu, Hysteretic conformational transition of single flexible polyelectrolyte under resonance ac-electric polarization, Macromolecules, 43, 7402-7405 (2010). S. Wang and Y. Zhu, Molecular diffusion on surface-tethered polymer layers: coupling of molecular thermal fluctuation and polymer chain dynamics, Soft Matter 6, 4661 (2010). V. E. Froude, J. I. Godfroy, S. Wang, H. Dombek and Y. Zhu, Anomalous dielectrophoresis of nanoparticles: A sensitive and rapid characterization by single-particle laser spectroscopy, J. Phys. Chem. C 14, 18880 (2010). S. Wang, H.-C. Chang and Y. Zhu, Hysteretic conformational transition of single flexible polyelectrolyte, Macromolecules 43, 7402 (2010). H. Liu, Y. Zhu and E. Maginn, Molecular simulation of polyelectrolyte conformational dynamics under an AC-electric field, Macromolecules 43, 4805 (2010). T. J. Politano, V. E. Froude and Y. Zhu, AC-electric field dependent electroformation of giant lipid vesicles, Colloids & Surfaces B: Biointefaces 79, 75 (2010). L. Zhang and Y. Zhu, Dielectrophoresis of Janus particles under high frequency AC-electric fields, Appl. Phys. Lett. 96, 141902 (2010). B. Jing, Y. Zhu and J. Zhao, Mobility of single DNA chain under electric field during its transient contact with solid surfaces, J. Polymer Sci B: Polym. Phys. 47, 2541 (2009). S. Wang and Y. Zhu, Facile method to prepare smooth and homgeneous polymer brush surfaces of varied brush thickness and grafting density, Langmuir, 25,13448 (2009). I.-F. Cheng, V. E. Froude, Y. Zhu, H.-C. Chang anf H.-C. Chang, A continuous high-throughput bioparticle sorter based on 3D traveling-wave dielectrophoresis, Lab Chip, 9, 3193 (2009). L. Zhang and Y. Zhu, Electrostatically tuned DNA adsorption on like-charged colloids and resultant colloidal clustering, Soft Matter, 5, 4290(2009). V. E. Froude and Y. Zhu, Dielectrophoresis of lipid unilamellar vesicles (liposomes) of contrasting surface constructs, J. Phys. Chem. B 113, 1552 (2009). P. Hoffman, P. Sarangapani and Y. Zhu, Dielectrophoresis and AC-induced assembly in binary colloidal suspensions, Langmuir, 24, 12164 (2008). P. Sarangapani, J. Zhao and Y. Zhu, Dynamic heterogeneity in super-cooled colloidal liquids using nanotracers: Bridging the landscape and dynamical description of super-cooled liquids, J. Chem. Phys., 129, 104514 (2008).