ZHAO Zheng
Assistant Professor

Education Background
Postdoctoral Fellow, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Ph. D, Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Bachelor, Henan University

Research Field
Aggregation-induced emission, Stimuli-responsive materials, Biomedical imaging
Email
zhaozheng@cuhk.edu.cn
Biography
Dr. Zheng Zhao obtained his PhD degree from Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences (2009-2014) under the supervision of Prof. Daoben Zhu and Professor Xike Gao. He moved to The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in 2015 to do postdoctoral research in Prof. Ben Zhong Tang’s group. In 2020, he joined the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering of Southeast University as a professor to carry out independent research work. Since 2021, he works as an assistant professor in the School of Science and Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Chinese (Shenzhen) to carry out independent research work.

Academic Publications
Xu-Min Cai, Yuting Lin, Ying Li, Xinfei Chen, Zaiyu Wang, Xueqian Zhao, Shenlin Huang*, Zheng Zhao*, Ben Zhong Tang*. BioAIEgens Derived from Rosin: How Does Molecular Motion Affect Their Photophysical Processes in Solid State? Nat. Commun. 2021, in press.
Zheng Zhao, Zaiyu Wang, Javad Tavakoli, Guogang Shan, Jianyu Zhang, Chen Peng, Yu Xiong, Xuepeng Zhang, Tsz Shing Cheung, Youhong Tang*, Bolong Huang*, Zhaoxun Yu, Jacky W. Y. Lam, Ben Zhong Tang*. Aggregate. 2021, DOI:10.1002/agt2.36.
Changhuo Xu, Hang Zou,?Zheng Zhao*,?Zheng Zheng, Ryan T. K. Kwok, Jacky W. Y. Lam, Herman H. Y. Sung, Ian D Williams, Sijie Chen, Lei Zheng* and Ben Zhong Tang*. Turning on Light Emission of a Dark Pro-AIEgen in Aqueous Media through Reductase-Modulated Derotation.?Adv. NanoBiomed. Res.?2021, 2000080.
Zheng Zhao*, Ben Zhong Tang*, A Divergent and Stereoselective Synthetic Strategy for Tetraarylethylene-Based AIEgens. Nat. Sci. Rev.?2021, nwab015.
Yujie Tu, Zheng Zhao*, Jacky W. Y. Lam, Ben Zhong Tang*. Aggregate Science: Much to Explore in the Meso World. Matter. 2021, 4, 338-349.
Zheng Zhao?, Haoke Zhang?, Jacky W. Y. Lam, Ben Zhong Tang*. Aggregation-Induced Emission: New Vistas at Aggregated Level. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2020, 59, 9888-9907. (ESI highly cited paper)
Zheng Zhao?, Xiaoyan Zheng?, Lili Du?, Yu Xiong, Wei He, Xiuxiu Gao, Chunli Li, Yingjie Liu,Bin Xu, Jing Zhang, Fengyan Song, Ying Yu, Xueqian Zhao, Yuanjing Cai, Xuewen He, Ryan T.K. Kwok, Jacky W.Y. Lam, Xuhui Huang, David Lee Phillips*, Hua Wang*, Ben Zhong Tang*. Non-aromatic annulene-based aggregationinduced emission system via aromaticity reversal process. Nat. Commun. 2019, 10, 2952.
Zheng Zhao?, Chao Chen?, Wenting Wu?, Fenfen Wang, Lili Du, Xiaoyan Zhang, Yu Xiong, Xuewen He, Yuanjing Cai, Ryan T.K. Kwok, Jacky W.Y. Lam, Xike Gao, Pingchuan Sun, David Lee Phillips, Dan Ding*, Ben Zhong Tang* Highly efficient photothermal nanoagent achieved by harvesting energy via excited-state intramolecular motion within nanoparticles. Nat. Commun. 2019, 10, 768. (ESI highly cited paper)
Zheng Zhao, Simin Gao, Xiaoyan Zheng, Pengfei Zhang, Wenting Wu, Ryan T. K. Kwok, Yu Xiong, Nelson L. C. Leung, Yuncong Chen, Xike Gao*, Jacky W. Y. Lam, Ben Zhong Tang*. Rational Design of Perylenediimide-Substituted Triphenylethylene to Electron Transporting Aggregation-Induced Emission Luminogens (AIEgens) with High Mobility and Near-Infrared Emission. Adv. Funct. Mater. 2018, 28, 1705609.
Zheng Zhao, Han. Nie, Congwu. Ge,Yuanjing. Cai,Yu. Xiong, Ji. Qi, Wenting. Wu, Ryan. T. K. Kwok, Xike. Gao, Anjun. Qin, Jacky. W. Y. Lam, Ben Zhong Tang*. Furan Is Superior to Thiophene: A Furan-Cored AIEgen with Remarkable Chromism and OLED Performance. Adv. Sci. 2017, 4, 1700005.
Yu Xiong?, Zheng Zhao? (co-first author), Weijun Zhao, Huili Ma, Qian Peng*, Zikai He, Xuepeng Zhang, Yuncong Chen, Xuewen He, Jacky W. Y. Lam and Ben Zhong Tang*. Designing Efficient and Ultralong Pure Organic Room-Temperature Phosphorescent Materials by Structural Isomerism. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2018, 57, 7997-8001. (ESI highly cited paper)
Haoke Zhang ?, Zheng Zhao? (co-first author), Andrew T. Turley?, Lin Wang, Paul R. McGonigal, Yujie Tu, Yuanyuan Li, Zhaoyu Wang, Ryan T. K. Kwok, Jacky W. Y. Lam, Ben Zhong Tang* Aggregate Science: from Structures to Properties. Adv. Mater. 2020, 36, 2001457.
Haoke Zhang ?, Zheng Zhao? (co-first author), Paul R. McGonigal, Ruquan Ye, Shunjie Liu, Jacky W.Y. Lam, Ryan T.K. Kwok, Wang Zhang Yuan, Jianping Xie, Andrey L. Rogach, Ben Zhong Tang.* Clusterization-triggered emission: Uncommon luminescence from common materials. Mater. Today. 2019, 32, 275-292. (ESI highly cited paper)
Ying Li?, Zheng Zhao? (co-first author), Jiangjiang Zhang, Ryan T. K. Kwok, Sheng Xie, Rongbing Tang, Yuexiao Jia, Junchuan Yang, Le Wang, Jacky W. Y. Lam, Wenfu Zheng*, Xingyu Jiang*, and Ben Zhong Tang* A Bifunctional Aggregation-Induced Emission Luminogen for Monitoring and Killing of Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria. Adv. Funct. Mater. 2018, 28, 1804632.
Yuan Gu?, Zheng Zhao? (co-first author), Huifang Su, Pengfei Zhang, Junkai Liu, Guangle Niu, Shiwu Li, Zhaoyang Wang, Ryan T. K. Kwok, Xin-Long Ni, Jingzhi Sun, Anjun Qin, Jacky W. Y. Lam, Ben Zhong Tang* Exploration of Biocompatible AIEgens from Natural Resources. Chem. Sci. 2018, 9, 6497-6502.
Ling-Hong Xiong?, Xuewen He?, Zheng Zhao? (co-first author), Ryan T. K. Kwok, Yu Xiong, Peng Fei Gao, Fan Yang, Yalan Huang, Herman H.-Y. Sung, Ian D. Williams, Jacky W. Y. Lam, Jinquan Cheng*, Renli Zhang*, and Ben Zhong Tang* Ultrasensitive Virion Immunoassay Platform with Dual-Modality Based on a Multifunctional Aggregation-Induced Emission Luminogen. ACS Nano. 2018, 12, 9549-9557.
Yuhui Liao?, Bin Li?, Zheng Zhao?(co-first author), Yu Fu, Qingqin Tan, Xingyu Li, Wei Wang, Jialing Yin, Hong Shan*, Ben Zhong Tang*, Xi Huang* Targeted Theranostics for Tuberculosis: A Rifampicin-loaded AIE Carrier for Tracking Single Granulomas and Eradicating Infection. ACS Nano, 2020, 14, 8046-8058.
Will W. H. Lee?, Zheng Zhao? (co-first author), Yuanjing Cai?, Zeng Xu, Ying Yu, Yu Xiong, Ryan T. K. Kwok, Yue Chen, Nelson L. C. Leung, Dongge Ma,* Jacky W. Y. Lam, Anjun Qin? and Ben Zhong Tang* Facile access to deep red/near-infrared emissive AIEgens for efficient non-doped OLEDs. Chem. Sci. 2018, 9, 6118-6125.
Pengfei Zhang?, Zheng Zhao? (co-first author), Chuansheng Li?, Huifang Su, Yayun Wu, Ryan T. K. Kwok, Jacky Wing Yip Lam, Ping Gong, Lintao Cai*, Ben Zhong Tang*. Aptamer-Decorated Self-Assembled Aggregation-Induced Emission Organic Dots for Cancer Cell Targeting and Imaging. Anal. Chem. 2018, 90, 1063–1067.
Fengyan Song?, Zheng Zhao? (co-first author), Zhiyang Liu?, Jacky W. Y. Lam, Ben Zhong Tang*. Circularly polarized luminescence from AIEgens. J. Mater. Chem. C., 2020, 8, 3284-3301. (invited review).
Zheng Zhao, Huifang Su, Pengfei Zhang, Yuanjing Cai, Ryan. T. K. Kwok, Yuncong Chen, Zikai He, Xinggui Gu, Xuewen, He, Herman H. Y. Sung, Ian D Willimas, Jacky. W. Y. Lam, Zhenfeng Zhang*, Ben zhong Tang*. Polyyne bridged AIE luminogens with red emission: design, synthesis, properties and applications. J. Mater. Chem. B, 2017, 5, 1650-1657.
Zheng Zhao, Zhongli Wang, Congwu Ge, Xu Zhang, Xiaodi Yang, Xike Gao*. Incorporation of benzothiadiazole into the backbone of 1,2,5,6-naphthalenediimide based copolymers, enabling much improved film crystallinity and charge carrier mobility. Polym. Chem., 2016, 7, 573-579.
Zheng Zhao, Zhongli Wang, Xu Zhang, Simin Gao, Xiaodi Yang, Hongxiang Li, Xike Gao*. Carbazolo[2,1-a]carbazole Diimide (CBZCBZ-DI): New Building Block for Organic Electronic Materials. ChemPlusChem, 2015, 80, 57-61.
Zheng Zhao, Fengjiao Zhang, Yunbin Hu, Zhongli Wang, Bing Leng, Xike Gao*, Chong-an Di, Daoben Zhu. Naphthalenediimides Fused with 2-(1,3-Dithiol-2-ylidene)acetonitrile: Strong Electron-Deficient Building Blocks for High-Performance n-Type Polymeric Semiconductors. ACS Macro Lett. 2014, 3, 1174-1177.
Zheng Zhao, Zhongli Wang, Yunbin Hu, Xiaodi Yang, Hongxiang Li, Xike Gao*, Daoben Zhu. Tetracyanodibenzotetrathiafulvalene Diimides: Design, Synthesis and Property Study. J. Org. Chem. 2013, 78, 12214-12219.
Zheng Zhao, Fengjiao Zhang, Xu Zhang, Xiaodi Yang, Hongxiang Li, Xike Gao*, Chongan Di, Daoben Zhu. 1,2,5,6-Naphthalenediimides-Based Donor-Acceptor Copolymers Designed from Isomer Chemistry for Organic Semiconducting Materials. Macromolecules 2013, 46, 7705-7714.
Wenting Wu?, Zheng Zhao?(co-first author), Jing Li, Ming Chen, and Xike Gao*. New π-extended Naphthalene Diimides for High-performance n-type Organic Semiconductors with NIR Absorption Property. Asian. J. Org. Chem. 2018, 7, 2279-2284.
Ying Yu?, Zeng Xu?, Zheng Zhao?(co-first author), Han Zhang, Dingge Ma, J. W. Y Lam, Anjun Qin, Ben Zhong Tang, In Situ Generation of Red-Emissive AIEgens from Commercial Sources for Nondoped OLEDs. ACS Omega 2018, 3, 16347-16356.