Name: Zexin ZHANG
Posittion: Professor
Address: Building 912, Dushu Campus, Soochow University
Email: zhangzx@suda.edu.cn
Education and Work Experience
Zexin Zhang received his B.S. from Jilin University in 2000, M.Sc. from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2003, and Ph.D. from the University of Bristol, UK in 2007. He joined the faculty of Soochow University in 2010, following postdoctoral research at LRSM, University of Pennsylvania, USA. Presently, he is a professor of materials science and a professor of physics at Soochow University. He also holds the Jiangsu Specially-Appointed Professor position. His primary appointment is at the College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science; he is also a faculty member of the Institute for Advanced Study, Center for Soft Condensed Matter Physics and Interdisciplinary Research at Soochow University. He received the Excellent Youth Foundation Awards from the National Natural Science Foundation of China in 2015. He has been an editorial board member (sub-field: soft matter chemistry and physics) of Scientific Reports since 2013.
Research Interests
Soft Matter Chemistry and Physics.
(1) Design and synthesis of novel colloidal and polymeric materials;
(2) Structure and dynamics of soft matter systems (polymers, colloids, liquid crystals, bacteria and cells, etc.);
(3) Application of video microscopy and image analysis in materials science and Chemical research.
Selected Publications
I. Soft Matter Chemistry: Design and Synthesis of Novel Colloidal and Polymeric Materials
1.Wang, H.; Wang, H.; Liu, X.; Zhang, Z. X., Anticoagulation colloidal microrobots based on heparin-mimicking polymers. J. Colloid Interface Sci. 2025, 691, 137345.
2.Quan, K.; Qin, Y.; Chen, K.; Liu, M.; Zhang, X.; Liu, P.; van der Mei, H. C.; Busscher, H. J.; Zhang, Z. X., Lethal puncturing of planktonic Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria by magnetically-rotated silica hexapods. J. Colloid Interface Sci. 2024, 664, 275-283.
3.Kang, N.; Zhu, J.; Zhang, X.; Wang, H.; Zhang, Z. X., Reconfiguring Self-Assembly of Photoresponsive Hybrid Colloids. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2022, 144, 4754-4758.
4.Xu, F.; Jing, W.; Chen, G.; Zhang, Z. X., Polymerization in Shear Flow: From Bowl-Shaped Glyco-Microcarriers to Self-Propelled Micromotors. ACS Macro Lett. 2021, 10, 9-13.
5.Du, S.; Wang, H.; Zhou, C.; Wang, W.; Zhang, Z. X., Motor and Rotor in One: Light-Active ZnO/Au Twinned Rods of Tunable Motion Modes. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2020, 142, 2213-2217.
II. Soft Matter Physics：Colloidal Glass, Self-assembly of Colloidal and Polymeric Systems, Biophysics
1.Liang, J.; Feng, X.; Zheng, N.; Wang, H.; Ni, R.; Zhang, Z. X., Glass Transition in Monolayers of Rough Colloidal Ellipsoids. Phys. Rev. Lett. 2025, 134, 038202.
2.Zhang, F.; Yu, H.; Wang, H.; Zhang, Z. X., Comparative study of the dynamics of colloidal glass and gel. J. Chem. Phys. 2023, 158, 174902.
3.Wang, H. G.; Zhang, Z. X.; Ling, X. S., 2D phase behaviors of colloidal ellipsoids and rods. Front. Phys. 2022, 10, 1043983.
4.Sun, X. Y.; Wang, H. G.; Feng, H.; Zhang, Z. X.; Ma, Y. Q., Observation of the Pinning-Induced Crystal-Hexatic-Glass Transition in Two-Dimensional Colloidal Suspensions. Chin. Phys. Lett. 2021, 38, 106101.
5.Chen, Y.; Tan, X.; Wang, H.; Zhang, Z. X.; Kosterlitz, J. M.; Ling, X. S., 2D Colloidal Crystals with Anisotropic Impurities. Phys. Rev. Lett. 2021, 127, 018004.