Publications

Peer-reviewed journal papers & patents

Google Scholar Profile

^# equal contribution · ^* corresponding author

2026

Scalable Back-Diffusion Growth of Multilayer hBN on Ni-Cu Gradient Alloy Substrates

M. M. Alam, H. Sun et al., Z. Gao^*, 2D Materials, vol. 13, p. 035019, 2026. [Link]

Glancing angle-engineered Fe catalysts enabling millimeter-scale vertically aligned carbon nanotube arrays

Y. Li, T. Huang, H. Sun, M. M. Alam, D. W. Jang, Z. Gao^*, Surfaces and Interfaces, vol. 97, p. 109985, 2026. [Link]

Van der Waals-integrated crossbar arrays with adjustable atomic-scale channels for ultralow-power imaging

Y. Hu, M. Tamtaji, M. Dai, T. W. Tang, J. Shen, J. Wang, Z. Gao, N. Zhang, L. An, Z. Luo^*, Matter, vol. 9, p. 102618, 2026. [Link]

Triple-phase interfaces for electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide

Y. Xu, T. Yan, X. Zhang, W. Liu, Y. Meng, J. Lin, Z. Gao, T. J. Meyer, S. Zhang, X. Ma, Chem. Soc. Rev., vol. 55, pp. 2366-2395, 2026. [Link]

Light-Up Nanostructures with Allosterically Controlled Fluorogenic DNA Aptamers

T. Zhang, X. Qian, J. Zhang, H. Cui, T. Bai, W. Wang, Y. Wang, Z. Gao, D. Han, W. Zeng, B. Wei^*, Advanced Materials, vol. 38, p. e14306, 2026. [Link]

2025

IEEE Trans. Instrum. Meas.2025

An Electronic Platform for Rapid Detection of Steroids in Clinical Plasma

B. Guo, F. Lin, Y. Liu, J. Jiang, B. Yuan, T. Huang, Y. Lin, C. Cong, S. Xiong, Z. Gao, D. Han, Y. Qin, Y. Lu^*, IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation & Measurement, vol. 74, pp. 1-11, 2025. [Link]

Emergent Moiré Fringes in Direct-grown Quasicrystals

J. Li^#, K. Bao^#, H. Sun, X. Yan^*, T. Huang, Q. Zhang, Y. Zhou, Y. Huang, Z. Liu, P. M. Das, J. You, J. Zhao, J. Xu, X. Pan, Y. Mi, J. Zhu^*, Z. Gao^*, Physical Review B, vol. 111, p. 235449, 2025. [Link]

Next-Generation Image Sensors Based on Low-Dimensional Semiconductor Materials

Y. Hu, Z. Gao^*, Z. Luo^*, L. An^*, Advanced Materials, vol. 37, p. 2501123, 2025. [Link]

2D Materials-Based Field-Effect Transistor Biosensors for Healthcare

J. Li, L. Wijaya, D. Jang, Y. Hu, J. You, Y. Cai, Z. Gao, Y. Mi, Z. Luo^*, Small, vol. 21, p. 2408961, 2025. [Link]

Magnetoelastic Sensing: A Study of Flexible Magnetoelastic Strain Sensors

J. Shu, J. Wang, Y. Su, M. Liu, Y. Li, H. Lu, M. M. Alam, C. E. Ti, S. F. Tong, Z. Gao, Z. Guo, Z. Li, R. K. Tong^*, Advanced Materials Technologies, vol. 10, p. 2401496, 2025. [Link]

Commercial Strip-Inspired One-Pot CRISPR-Based Chip for Multiplexed Detection of Respiratory Viruses

H. Zhang, X. Hu, X. Bao, W. Tu, Q. Wan, Z. Yu, J. Xie, X. Qiu, W. Gu, Z. Gao, Y. Wang, C. Wang^*, Y. Luo^*, Small Methods, vol. 9, p. 2400917, 2025. [Link]

2024

Rapid miRNA Detection Enhanced by Exponential Hybridization Chain Reaction in Graphene Field-Effect Transistors

T. Huang, J. Li, H. Chen, H. Sun, D. Jang, M. M. Alam, K. Yeung, Q. Zhang, H. Xia, L. Duan, C. Mao^*, Z. Gao^*, Biosensors and Bioelectronics, vol. 266, p. 116695, 2024. [Link]

Flexible strain sensors based on silver nanowires and UV-curable acrylate elastomers for wrist movement monitoring

S. Li, W. Wu, Y. Chang, W. Chen, Y. Liu, Z. He, Y. Pu, I. S. Babichuk, T. T. Ye, Z. Gao, J. Yang^*, RSC Applied Interfaces, vol. 1, pp. 684-688, 2024. [Link]

Catalysis-mediated dynamic ligand presentation regulates mechanosensing-metabolism coupling of stem cells

X. Wang, X. Xie, Z. Li, X. Zhang, B. Yang, H. Kang, P. S.-h. Yung, Z. Gao, S. H. D. Wong^*, L. Bian^*, K. Zhang^*, Nano Today, vol. 57, p. 102363, 2024. [Link]

Drift-Aware Feature Learning Based on Autoencoder Preprocessing for Soft Sensors

J. Wang, J. Shu, M. M. Alam, Z. Gao, Z. Li, K. Tong^*, Advanced Intelligent Systems, vol. 6, p. 2300486, 2024. [Link]

Flexible Piezoelectric Sensors Based on Ionic Liquid-doped Poly(L-Lactic Acid) for Human Coughing Recognition

Z. He, Y. Liu, I. S. Babichuk, Z. Zhou, Z. Liu, X. Yang, R. Zhou, Y. Pu, S. Li, Y. Chang, T. Ye, Z. Gao, J. Yang^*, Advanced Materials Technologies, vol. 9, p. 2400386, 2024. [Link]

Minimizing Contact Resistance and Flicker Noise in Micro Graphene Hall Sensors Using Persistent Carbene Modified Gold Electrodes

H. Sun, T. Huang, M. M. Alam, J. Li, D. W. Jang, T. Wang, H. Chen, Y.-P. Ho, Z. Gao^*, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, vol. 16, pp. 31473-31479, 2024. [Link]

arXiv2024

Electrically Tunable Magnetoconductance of Close-Packed CVD Bilayer Graphene Layer Stacking Walls

Q. Zhang, S. Wang, Z. Gao et al., arXiv preprint arXiv:2406.06867. [Link]

Epitaxial Growth of Two-Dimensional MoO₂-MoSe₂ Metal-Semiconductor Heterostructures for Schottky Diodes

T. Kang, J. You, J. Wang et al., Z. Gao, Y. Liu, Z. Luo^*, Nano Letters, vol. 24, pp. 8369-8377, 2024. [Link]

Epitaxial Growth of 1D Te/2D MoSe₂ Mixed-Dimensional Heterostructures for High-Efficient Self-Powered Photodetector

J. You et al., Z. Gao, Z. Luo^*, Advanced Functional Materials, vol. 34, p. 2311134, 2024. [Link]

2023

Skin-Adhesive Flexible Force Sensors Based on Piezoelectric Poly(l-lactic acid) for Human Behavior Recognition

C. Lin et al., Z. Gao^*, and J. Yang^*, Advanced Materials Technologies, vol. 8, p. 2202142, 2023. [Link]

Highly Stable Integration of Graphene Hall Sensors with Microfluidics for Sensing in Whole Blood

N. Shah et al., Z. Gao, D. Issadore^*, Microsystems & Nanoengineering, vol. 9, p. 71, 2023. [Link]

Transmission-matrix Quantitative Phase Profilometry for Accurate and Fast Thickness Mapping of 2D Materials

Y. Nie et al., Z. Gao, R. Zhou^*, ACS Photonics, vol. 10, pp. 1084-1092, 2023. [Link]

Exchange Coupling Effects on the Magnetotransport Properties of Ni-Nanoparticle-Decorated Graphene

E. Arguello Cruz et al., Z. Gao, D. Niebieskikwiat, Nanomaterials, vol. 13, p. 1861, 2023. [Link]

2022

Salt-Assisted Selective Growth of H-phase Monolayer VSe₂ with Apparent Hole Transport Behavior

J. You et al., Z. Gao, Z. Luo^*, Nano Letters, vol. 22, pp. 10167-10175, 2022. [Link]

Curvature-Induced One-Dimensional Phonon Polaritons at Edges of Folded Boron Nitride Sheets

X. Yan et al., Z. Gao, X. Pan^*, Nano Letters, vol. 22, pp. 9319-9326, 2022. [Link]

Raman mapping of piezoelectric poly (L-Lactic acid) films for force sensors

I. S. Babichuk et al., Z. Gao^*, and J. Yang^*, RSC Advances, vol. 12, pp. 27687-27697, 2022. [Link]

Aptasensors Based on Graphene Field-Effect Transistors for Arsenite Detection

J. Li^#, A. Tyagi^# et al., Z. Gao^*, ACS Applied Nano Materials, vol. 5, pp. 12848-12854, 2022. [Link]

Utilizing Gradient Porous Graphene Substrate as the Solid-Contact Layer to Enhance Wearable Electrochemical Sweat Sensor Sensitivity

K. K. Yeung, J. Li, T. Huang et al., Z. Gao^*, Nano Letters, vol. 22, pp. 6647-6654, 2022. [Link]

Simultaneously Stiffening and Toughening Epoxy by Urea Treated Hydroxylated Halloysite Nanotubes Polymer

S. Zeng et al., Z. Gao^*, Polymer, vol. 256, p. 125194, 2022. [Link]

Graphene-Based Ion-Selective Field-Effect Transistor for Sodium Sensing

T. Huang, K. K. Yeung, J. Li, H. Sun, M. M. Alam, and Z. Gao^*, Nanomaterials, vol. 12, p. 2620, 2022. [Link]

Coherent Heterostructure Mesh Grown by Gap-Filling Epitaxial Chemical Vapor Deposition

H. Liu et al., Z. Gao, Z. Luo, Chemistry of Materials, vol. 34, pp. 4765-4773, 2022. [Link]

Structure evolution of hBN grown on molten Cu by regulating precursor flux during chemical vapor deposition

H. Liu et al., Z. Gao, Z. Luo, 2D Materials, vol. 9, p. 015004, 2022. [Link]

2021

Phys. Rev. Lett.2021

Quantum-Well Bound States in Graphene Heterostructure Interfaces

Z. Dai, Z. Gao et al., Physical Review Letters, vol. 127, p. 086805, 2021. [Link]

2D Mater.2021

Synergistic enhancement of photoluminescent intensity in monolayer molybdenum disulfide embedded with plasmonic nanostructures for catalytic sensing

M. Jalali, Z. Gao^* et al., Z. Luo^*, 2D Materials, vol. 8, p. 035049, 2021. [Link]

Recent Advances in Electrochemical Sensors for Wearable Sweat Monitoring: A Review

K.K. Yeung, T. Huang et al., Z. Gao^*, IEEE Sensors Journal, vol. 21, no. 13, pp. 14522-14539, 2021. [Link]

Scalable Chemical Vapor Deposited Graphene Field-Effect Transistors for Bio/Chemical assay

Rajesh, Z. Gao et al., Applied Physics Reviews, vol. 8, p. 011311, 2021. [Link]

The C-terminus of the mu opioid receptor is critical in G protein interaction as demonstrated by a novel graphene biosensor

C. Wen et al., Z. Gao, R. Liu, IEEE Sensors Journal, vol. 21, pp. 5758-5762, 2021. [Link]

2020

Recent Advances in the Properties and Synthesis of Bilayer Graphene and Transition Metal Dichalcogenides

Z. Gao^*, M-Q. Zhao^*, M.M.A. Ashik, and A. T. C. Johnson^*, Journal of Physics: Materials, vol. 3, p. 042003, 2020. [Link]

Large-Area Epitaxial Growth of Curvature-Stabilized ABC Trilayer Graphene

Z. Gao^*, S. Wang, J. Berry et al., F. Wang^*, and A. T. C. Johnson^*, Nature Communications, vol. 11, p. 546, 2020. [Link]

J. Appl. Phys.2020

Controlled Doping of Graphene by Means of Impurity Charge Screening Via a Polarized Ferroelectric Polymer

K.S. Figueroa et al., Z. Gao, A. T. C. Johnson, Journal of Applied Physics, vol. 127, p. 125503, 2020. [Link]

Graphene transistor arrays functionalized with genetically engineered antibody fragments for Lyme disease diagnosis

Z. Gao, P. Ducos et al., A.T.C. Johnson, 2D Materials, vol. 7, p. 024001, 2020. [Link]

2019

Controlled Growth of Large-Area Bilayer Tungsten Diselenides with Lateral P-N Junctions

S. V. Mandyam et al., Z. Gao, A. T. C. Johnson, ACS Nano, vol. 13, pp. 10490-10498, 2019. [Link]

Origin of Nanoscale Friction Contrast between Supported Graphene, MoS₂, and a Graphene/MoS₂ Heterostructure

M. R. Vazirisereshk et al., Z. Gao, A. T. C. Johnson, Nano Letters, vol. 19, pp. 5496-5505, 2019. [Link]

2018

Detection of Sub-fM DNA with Target Recycling and Self-Assembly Amplification on Graphene Field Effect Biosensors

Z. Gao, H. Xia et al., A. T. C. Johnson, Nano Letters, vol. 18, pp. 3509-3515, 2018. (Reported by Penn Today and The Graphene Council) [Link]

Crystalline Bilayer Graphene with Preferential Stacking from Ni-Cu Gradient Alloy

Z. Gao, Q. Zhang et al., A. T. C. Johnson, ACS Nano, vol. 12, pp. 2275-2282, 2018. [Link]

Modular Functionalization of Crystalline Graphene by Recombinant Proteins: A Nanoplatform for Probing Biomolecules

A. Tyagi et al., Z. Gao, Z. Luo, Nanoscale, vol. 10, pp. 22572-22582, 2018. [Link]

New Approach to Unveiling Individual Atomic Layers of 2D Materials and Their Heterostructures

I. H. Abidi et al., Z. Gao, Z. Luo, Chemistry of Materials, vol. 30, pp. 1718-1728, 2018. [Link]

2017

Recoil Effect and Photoemission Splitting of Trions in Monolayer MoS₂

Q. Zhang et al., Z. Gao, Z. Luo, ACS Nano, vol. 11, pp. 10808-10815, 2017. [Link]

Scalable Graphene Aptasensors for Drug Quantification

R. Vishnubhotla et al., Z. Gao, A. T. C. Johnson, AIP Advances, vol. 7, p. 115111, 2017. [Link]

Synthesis and Physical Properties of Phase-Engineered Transition Metal Dichalcogenide Monolayer Heterostructures

C. H. Naylor et al., Z. Gao, A. T. C. Johnson, ACS Nano, vol. 11, pp. 8619-8627, 2017. [Link]

pH Sensing Properties of Flexible, Bias-Free Graphene Microelectrodes in Complex Fluids

J. Ping et al., Z. Gao, A. T. C. Johnson, Small, vol. 13, p. 1700564, 2017. [Link]

2D Mater.2017

Large-Area Synthesis of High-Quality Monolayer 1T'-WTe₂ Flakes

C. Naylor et al., Z. Gao, A. T. C. Johnson, 2D Materials, vol. 4, p. 021008, 2017. (Highlighted by Nature Nanotechnology) [Link]

2016

Scalable Production of Sensor Arrays Based on High-Mobility Hybrid Graphene Field Effect Transistors

Z. Gao, H. Kang et al., A. T. C. Johnson, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, vol. 8, pp. 27546-27552, 2016. [Link]

Genetically Engineered Antibody Functionalized Platinum Nanoparticles Modified CVD-Graphene Nanohybrid Transistor for the Detection of Breast Cancer Biomarker, HER3

Rajesh, Z. Gao et al., A. T. C. Johnson, Advanced Materials Interfaces, vol. 3, p. 1600124, 2016. [Link]

Monolayer Single-Crystal 1T'-MoTe₂ Grown by Chemical Vapor Deposition Exhibits Weak Antilocalization Effect

C. H. Naylor et al., Z. Gao, A. T. C. Johnson, Nano Letters, vol. 16, pp. 4297-4304, 2016. [Link]

2015

Growth of Vertically Aligned Carbon Nanotube Arrays on Al Substrates through Controlled Diffusion of Catalyst

Z. Gao et al., The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, vol. 119, pp. 15636-15642, 2015. [Link]

A Novel Method for the Fabrication of a High-Density Carbon Nanotube Microelectrode Array

A. Khalifa, Z. Gao et al., Sensing and Bio-Sensing Research, vol. 5, pp. 1-7, 2015. [Link]

2014

Exceptional thermal interface properties of a three-dimensional graphene foam

X. Zhang, K. K. Yeung, Z. Gao et al., Carbon, vol. 66, pp. 201-209, 2014. [Link]

2013

Thermal Chemical Vapor Deposition Grown Graphene Heat Spreader for Thermal Management of Hot Spots

Z. Gao et al., Carbon, vol. 61, pp. 342-348, 2013. (Reported by SciTechDaily, Electronics Cooling, ScienceDaily and Techfragments) [Link]

Highly conductive die attach adhesive from percolation control and its applications in light-emitting device thermal management

X. Zhang et al., Z. Gao, Applied Physics Letters, vol. 102, pp. 014101-5, 2013. [Link]

2011

Nanotechnology2011

Fabrication of Carbon Nanotube Thermal Interface Material on Aluminum Alloy Substrates with Low Pressure CVD

Z. Gao, K. Zhang, and M. M. F. Yuen, Nanotechnology, vol. 22, p. 265611, 2011. [Link]

Patents

Patent2026

Graphene-Enabled DNA Biosensors with Enhanced Sensitivity and Specificity

U.S. Patent No. 12,674,778 B2, A. T. Johnson, Jr., Z. Gao and H. Xia, granted July 7, 2026. [Link]

Patent2017

Three-Dimensional Interconnected Porous Graphene-Based Thermal Interface Materials

Patent US9605193B2, M. M. F. Yuen, X. Zhang, K. K. Yeung, Z. Gao, K. Zhang, M. Zhang, H. Xu, 2017, Patent Granted. [Link]