Zhenan Bao (Chinese: 鲍哲南; pinyin: Bào Zhé-nán; born 1970) is a Chinese-born American chemical engineer. She serves as K. K. Lee Professor of Chemical Engineering at Stanford University, with courtesy appointments in Chemistry and Material Science and Engineering. She served as the Department Chair of Chemical Engineering from 2018 to 2022. She was an Associate Editor for the Royal Society of Chemistry journal Chemical Science, Polymer Reviews and Synthetic Metals. Bao is known for her work on organic field-effect transistors and organic semiconductors, for applications including flexible electronics and electronic skin.
Early life and education Bao was born in Nanjing, China in 1970. She is the daughter of a professor of physical chemistry at Nanjing University. Bao studied chemistry as an undergraduate student at Nanjing University beginning in 1987. While at Nanjing University, she worked in the laboratory of Gi Xue on gold cross-linked polymers. In 1990, Bao moved to the United States with her family, enrolling in the University of Illinois at Chicago as she had family nearby. Several months later, Bao was accepted directly into the PhD program in chemistry at the University of Chicago without a bachelor's degree, owing to two awards she won while an undergraduate at Nanjing University. At the University of Chicago, as one of the first graduate students of Luping Yu, Bao applied palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions towards the synthesis of conductive and liquid crystalline polymers. Bao received a Master of Science in chemistry in 1993 and a Doctor of Philosophy in chemistry in 1995, both from the University of Chicago. To this day, she does not hold any bachelor's degrees.
Career Upon the completion of her doctorate, Bao received an offer to join the University of California, Berkeley as a postdoctoral scholar, but instead chose to join the Materials Research Department at Bell Labs of Lucent Technologies. At Bell Labs, she developed the first all-plastic transistor, or organic field-effect transistor, which allows for use in electronic paper. It was also during this time when Jan Hendrik Schön published a series of papers claiming major breakthroughs involving semiconductors, two of which included Bao as a coauthor. Schön's papers were ultimately retracted due to fraud, but Bao was cleared of allegations of misconduct. She was named a Distinguished Member of Technical Staff at Bell Labs in 2001. She founded the Stanford Wearable Electronics Initiative (eWEAR) and is the current faculty director. In 2004, she returned to academia by joining the faculty at Stanford University where she is now focusing on studying organic semiconductor and carbon nanotubes using new fabrication methods. Recent work in the lab includes developing electronic skin and all-carbon solar cells. Bao is a co-founder and on the board of directors for C3 Nano and PyrAmes Health, both of which are Silicon Valley venture-funded startup companies. She serves as an advising Partner for Fusion Venture Capital.
Research Bao and her team of researchers at Stanford University have several current projects in her research group as of 2022. Utilizing a “newly created printing method”, Bao and her team have developed skin-like integrated circuits. This new material can be used for “on-skin sensors, body-scale networks and implantable bioelectronics.” The process used for developing these materials is known as photolithography which, when combined with novel photochemistries, can generate the flexible materials. In conjunction with Karl Deisseroth, Bao has developed biocompatible polymers that can be used to “modulate the properties of target cells”. These cell-modulating biocompatible polymers alter certain properties of neurons and can either inhibit or boost neuronal firing. This technology can be used as a tool for exploration to better understand diseases such as multiple sclerosis.
Fellowships and societies
Fellowships American Association for the Advancement of Science American Chemical Society SPIE Terman Fellow, Stanford University
Advisory board positions ACS Nano Advanced Functional Materials Advanced Functional Materials Chemical Communications Chemistry of Materials Materials Today, Nanoscale NPG Asia Materials
Other positions Board of Directors, Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation, 2022–present. Advisory Council Member, Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago, 2022–present. Science Committee member, Future Science Prize of China, 2018–2021. Board member, National Academies Board on Chemical Sciences and Technology, 2009–2012. Board of Directors, Materials Research Society, 2003–2005. Executive Committee Member/Member-at-Large, Polymers Materials Science and Engineering division of the American Chemical Society, 2000–2006, 2009–2012
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