Group of Dr. Zhenwei Yao

Research

My research interest is understanding exceedingly rich static and dynamic structures arising in the enormous class of soft condensed matter systems using the combination of analytical theory and numerical experiment. ‘Soft matter’ covers a large variety of systems that are far beyond what its name indicates, including polymers, colloids, liquid crystals, surfactants, sand, etc. All of these are traditional research objects of materials scientists, biologists, and chemists. Applying physical methods to these systems defines the subject of soft matter physics. Soft matters are gaining increasing industrial importance. Notably, soft matter based functional materials offer promising opportunity for applications in complex devices and renewable energy. What is equally exciting is new physical concepts and principles to be revealed from intriguing behaviors of soft matters.

An open question in this field is to fully understand the origin of various ordered phases. A common theme in my researches is the crucial role played by geometry and topological defects. Specifically, I am dedicated to exploring the following problems in soft matter physics: (1) How are various ordered static and dynamic structures in extensive soft matter systems fabricated? What is their response to environment? (2) How do topological defects play their roles in these processes? (3) What are the implications of the answers to the above questions in the fields of materials science, biology, and beyond?

Publications

Topological defects

• Z. Yao, Command of Collective Dynamics by Topological Defects in Spherical Crystals, Phys. Rev. Lett. 122, 228002 (2019) download
• Z. Yao, Topological vacancies in spherical crystals, Soft Matter, 13, 5905 (2017) download
• X. Duan and Z. Yao*, Curvature-driven stability of defects in nematic textures over spherical disks, Phys. Rev. E, 95, 062706 (2017) download
• Z. Yao, Dressed active particles in spherical crystals, Soft Matter, 12, 7020 (2016) download
• Z. Yao and M. Olvera de la Cruz, Dynamics of vacancies in two-dimensional Lennard-Jones crystals, Phys. Rev. E 90, 062318 (2014); Highlighted in Editors’ Suggestion download
• Z. Yao and M. Olvera de la Cruz, Polydispersity-driven topological defects as order-restoring excitations, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 111, 5094 (2014) download
• Z. Yao and M. Olvera de la Cruz, Topological defects in flat geometry: the role of density inhomogeneity, Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 115503 (2013) download
• E. Bendito, M. Bowick, A. Medina, Z. Yao, Crystalline particle packings on constant mean curvature (Delaunay) surfaces, Phys. Rev. E 88, 012405 (2013) download
• X. Xing, H. Shin, M. Bowick, Z. Yao, L. Jia and M. Li, Morphology of nematic and smectic vesicles, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 109(14), 5202 (2011) download
• M. Bowick and Z. Yao*, Crystalline order on catenoidal capillary bridges, Europhys. Lett. 93, 36001 (2011) download

Electrostatics in soft matters

• J. Chen, X. Xing, and Z. Yao*, Depletion zones and crystallography on pinched spheres, Phys. Rev. E, 97, 032605 (2018) download
• Z. Yao* and M. Olvera de la Cruz, Electrostatics-driven hierarchical buckling of charged flexible ribbons, Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 148101 (2016) download
• V. Jadhao, Z. Yao, C. K. Thomas, and M. Olvera de la Cruz, Coulomb energy of uniformly charged spheroidal shell systems, Phys. Rev. E 91, 032305 (2015) download
• Z. Yao and M. Olvera de la Cruz, Electrostatic repulsion-driven crystallization model arising from filament networks, Phys. Rev. E 87, 042605 (2013) download
• Z. Yao and M. Olvera de la Cruz, Packing of charged chains on toroidal geometries, Phys. Rev. E 87, 012603 (2013) download
• Z. Yao, M. Bowick and X. Ma, The electric double layer structure around charged spherical interfaces, J. Chem. Phys. 136, 044106 (2012) download

Geometries in soft matters

• J. Su, J. Chen, and Z. Yao (co-corresponding author), Dehydration-Driven Morphological Transformation of Flexible Vesicles on Liquid−Solid Interface, J. Phys. Chem. C, 123, 12268 (2019) download
• S. Liu, Z. Yao, K. Chiou, S. I. Stupp, and M. Olvera de la Cruz, Emergent perversions in the buckling of heterogeneous elastic strips, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 113, 7100 (2016) download
• J. Su, Z. Yao (co-first author) and M. Olvera de la Cruz, Vesicle Geometries Enabled by Dynamically Trapped States, ACS Nano 10, 2287−2294 (2016) download
• Z. Yao and M. Olvera de la Cruz, Ordered self-similar patterns in anisotropic stochastic growth, J. Phys. Chem. B, (2016); Special Issue: William M. Gelbart Festschrift. download
• Z. Yao and M. Olvera de la Cruz, Ruled surface underlying KcsA potassium channels, Soft Matter 10(4), 540 (2014) download
• Z. Yao, B. Qiao and M. Olvera de la Cruz, Potassium ions in the cavity of a KcsA channel model, Phys. Rev. E 88, 062712 (2013) download
• Z. Yao, M. Bowick, X. Ma and R. Sknepnek, Planar sheets meet negative curvature liquid interfaces, Europhys. Lett. 101, 44007 (2013) download
• Z. Yao, R. Sknepnek, C. K. Thomas and M. Olvera de la Cruz, Shapes of pored membranes, Soft Matter 8, 11613 (2012) download
• Z. Yao and M. Bowick, Self-propulsion of droplets by spatially-varying roughness, Soft Matter 8(4), 1142 (2011) download
• Z. Yao and M. Bowick, The shrinking instability of toroidal liquid droplets in the Stokes flow regime, Eur. Phys. J. E 34, 32 (2011) download
• S. Zhao, S. Zhang, Z. Yao and L. Zhang, Equilibrium conformation of polymer chains with noncircular cross section, Phys. Rev. E 74, 032801 (2006) download
• S. Zhang, Z. Yao, S. Zhao and E. Zhang, Buckling and competition of energy and entropy lead conformation of single-walled carbon nanocones, Appl. Phys. Letts. 89, 131923 (2006) download

Problems in classical physics

• L. Yang, and Z. Yao*, Two and three electrons on a sphere: A generalized Thomson problem, Phys. Rev. B, 97, 235431 (2018) download
• X. Duan, and Z. Yao*, Harmonic field in knotted space, Phys. Rev. E (Rapid Communications), 97, 040702 (R), (2018) download
• Z. Yao, Propagating stress-pulses and wiggling transition revealed in string dynamics, EPL, 121, 44002, (2018) download
• Z. Yao, Emergent dynamic structures and statistical law in spherical lattice gas automata, Phys. Rev. E, 96, 062139 (2017) download

Group Members

Chen, Jingyuan, email: mr-chenjy@sjtu.edu.cn

Sun, Honghui

Yang, Liu (graduated in 2019)

Duan, Xiuqing (graduated in 2018)

Teaching

2016 - 2019 Spring, Advanced Statistical Physics

2017 Spring, Introduction to Soft Matter Physics

Open Positions

Our lab welcome interested undergraduate and graduate students.

>>>>>>>>>>>> webpage updated on June 9, 2019 >>>>>>>>>>