Yunlong Zhao

Yunlong joined the National Physical Laboratory as a Senior Scientist in October 2018. He also holds a joint appointment at the Dyson School of Design Engineering, Imperial College London as an Associate Professor, leading the Electrochemical and Bioelectronic Interface Group at Imperial.

Yunlong carried out his postdoctoral and doctoral research at the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, where he conducted research in bioelectronic materials and devices, and nano-bio interface. He also received his undergraduate and postgraduate research training at the Wuhan University of Technology, with a focus on electrochemical energy storage and electrochemical probing.

Yunlong gained highly multidisciplinary research experience in material science, electrochemistry, electrophysiology, electronic engineering, biomedical engineering and nano-bio interface. His research philosophy is to identify key challenges/problems in complex electrochemical and biomedical systems by rational designing and engineering devices capable of simulating, monitoring and regulating complex electrochemical and physiological processes, performing root cause analysis and proposing innovative solutions/optimisation strategies for the applications in Sustainability and Healthcare.

Yunlong has developed a series of novel bioelectronics, sensors, energy storage devices, and their integration into 2D on-chip and 3D soft systems for the in-depth studies of electrophysiology and electrochemical energy storage, with over 90 publications published in peer-reviewed journals such as Nature, Nature Nanotechnology, Nature Materials, Nature Communications, Nature Reviews Materials, PNAS, etc., with citations over 10K, and an H-index of 48. His work has attracted widespread attention from academics, media and industries. Due to his academic contributions, Yunlong has received numerous prestigious awards, e.g., the Second-Class Prize of State Natural Science Award, the Wiley-VCH Rising Stars, the Top 5 finalist for the USERN prize, etc.

Current interests

(1) On-chip and flexible implantable devices for electrochemical and physiological interrogation.

(2) Advanced electrochemical energy storage technologies for Sustainability and Future Electronics.

(3) Wearable and implantable bioelectronics for Healthcare and the Human-Machine Interface.

(4) Micro-power sources and bioelectronics integrated 3D soft system.

Selected publications

1. Elevating intracellular action potential recording in cardiomyocytes: A precision-enhanced and biosafe single-pulse electroporation system, H. Han, C. Qin, D. Xu, S. Kar, F.A. Castro, Z. Wang, J. Fang, Y. Zhao*, N. Hu*, Biosensors and Bioelectronics (2024)246, 115860.
2.  Ampere-hour-scale soft-package potassium-ion hybrid capacitors enabling 6-minute fast-charging, H. Li, Y. Gong, H. Zhou, J. Li, K. Yang, B. Mao, J. Zhang, Y. Shi, J. Deng, M. Mao, Z. Huang, S. Jiao, Y. Kuang, Y. Zhao*, S. Luo* Nature Communications, (2023) 14.6407.
3. Rectifying interphases for preventing Li dendrite propagation in solid-state electrolytes, X. Yao, X. Lu, Y. Zhou, T. Samoril, J. Bi, M.G. Masteghin, H. Zhang, L. Askew, J. Kim, F. Xiong, J. Wang, D.C. Cox, T. Sui, I. Gilmore, SRP Silva, L. Mai L, G. Hinds, P.R. Shearing, J. Park*, Y. Zhao*, Energy & Environmental Science (2023), 16, 3960.
4. Minimally invasive power sources for implantable electronics M. Xu, Y. Liu, K. Yang, S. Li, M. Wang, J. Wang, D. Yang, M. Shkunov, SRP. Silva, F.A. Castro, Y. Zhao* Exploration (2023), 20220106.
5. Developing highly reversible Li-CO₂ batteries: from on-chip exploration to practical application, M. Wang, K. Yang, Y. Ji, X. Liao, G. Zhang, MG Masteghin, N. Peng, F. Richheimer, H. Li, J. Wang, X. Liu, S. Yang, E. Petrucco, P. Shearing, F.A. Castro, SRP Silva, F. Pan F, Y. Zhao*, Energy & Environmental Science (2023), 16, 3960.
6. Biointerface design for vertical nanoprobes, R. Elnathan*, M. Barbato, X. Guo, A. Mariano, Z. Wang, F. Santoro*, P. Shi*, N. H. Voelcker*, X. Xie*, J. Young*, Y. Zhao*, W. Zhao* & C. Chiappini*, Nature Reviews Materials (2022), 7, 953–973.
7. A Highly Integrated Flexible Photo-Rechargeable System Based on Stable Ultrahigh-Rate Quasi-Solid-State Zinc-Ion Micro-Batteries and Perovskite Solar Cells, J. Bi, J. Zhang, P. Giannakou, T. Wickramanayake, X. Yao, M. Wang, X. Liu, M. Shkunov, W. Zhang*, Y. Zhao* Energy Storage Materials (2022) 51, 239-248.
8. Emerging Bioelectronic Strategies for Cardiovascular Tissue Engineering and Implantation, D.M. Cox-Pridmore, F.A. Castro, S.R.P. Silva, P. Camelliti, Y. Zhao* Small (2022), 2105281.
9. Integrated contact lens sensor system based on multifunctional ultrathin MoS2 transistors, S. Guo, K. Wu, C. Li, H. Wang, Z. Sun, D. Xi, S. Zhang, M. E. Zaghloul, C. Wang, F. A. Castro, D. Yang, Y. Zhao*. Matter 4,3, (2021): 969-985. 
10. Scalable ultrasmall nanowire 3D transistor probes for intracellular recording, Y. Zhao, S. S. You, A. Zhang, J. Lee, J. Huang, C. M. Lieber* Nature Nanotechnology 14,(2019)  783–790.
11. Bioinspired neuron-like electronics, X. Yang, T. Zhou, T. Zwang, G. Hong, Y. Zhao, R. Viveros, T. Fu, T. Gao and C. M. Lieber*, Nature Materials 18, (2019): 510–517.
12. Rational Design of Pre-Intercalated Electrodes for Rechargeable Battery, X. Yao, Y. Zhao*, F.A. Castro, L. Mai*. ACS Energy Letters 4, 3, (2019): 771–778.
13. Track batteries degrading in real time, L. Mai, M. Yan, Y. Zhao Nature 546.7659 (2017): 469.
14. Shape-controlled deterministic assembly of nanowires, Y. Zhao, J. Yao, L. Xu, M. Mankin, Y. Zhu, H. Wu, L. Mai, Q. Zhang, C. M. Lieber* Nano Letters 16.4 (2016): 2644-2650.
15. Stable alkali metal ion intercalation compounds as optimized metal oxide nanowire cathodes for lithium batteries. Y. Zhao, C. Han, J. Yang, J. Su, X. Xu, X. Zou, B. Song, L. Mai*, Q. Zhang Nano Letters 15.3 (2015): 2180-2185.
16. Self-adaptive strain-relaxation optimization for high-energy lithium storage material through crumpling of graphene, Y. Zhao, J. Feng, X. Liu, H. Wu, Liqiang Mai* Nature Communications 5 (2014).
17. Hierarchical mesoporous perovskite La_0.5Sr_0.5CoO_2.91 nanowires with ultrahigh capacity for Li-air batteries, Y. Zhao, L. Xu, L. Mai*, C. Han, Q. An, X. Xu, X. Liu, Q. Zhang PNAS 109.48 (2012): 19569.

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Profile at Imperial

Electrochemical and Bioelectronic Interface Group at Imperial

Email Yunlong Zhao at NPL

Email Yunlong Zhao at Imperial