Xiaoxiao Zhao, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering

The University of Maine
Ferland Engineering Education and Design Center, Room 251
Orono, ME  04469-5711
(207) 581-4147; xiaoxiao.zhao@maine.edu

Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Louisiana State University, 2019

External Engagements:

  • Postdoctoral Fellow, Mechanical Engineering, University of Toronto, Canada, 2021-2024
  • Postdoctoral Fellow, Mechanical Engineering, The University of British Columbia, Canada, 2019-2021

Teaching Areas:

  • Materials Science and Engineering

Research Areas: (Wettability & Interfacial Surface Engineering (WISE) Lab)

  • Liquid droplet transport
  • PFAS-free surfaces
  • Liquid-like polymer brushes
  • Micro/nano surface patterning
  • Durable superhydrophobic surfaces

Principal Sponsors:

  • ISC, NSERC, GCRTC, NIBIB

Select Research / Collaboration Activities:

  • Advanced Coatings and Materials for Personal Protective Ensembles, The Innovative Solutions Canada Program (ISC)
  • Developing upgraded face shields for enhanced COVID-19 protection, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)
  • Paper-Based Weather Resistant Membrane for Building Applications, Green Construction Research and Training Centre (GCRTC)
  • Discovery and Applied Research for Technological Innovations to Improve Human Health, National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB)

Select Publications / Presentations:

  • Xiaoxiao Zhao, Mohammad Soltani, and Kevin Golovin*. “Residue‐Free Droplet Transport Against Gravity via Wettability‐Patterned Liquid‐Like Surfaces.” Advanced Functional Materials (2024): 2403150.
  • Xiaoxiao Zhao, Liting Bi, Behrooz Khatir, Peter Serles, Tobin Filleter, Jeremy E. Wulff, and Kevin Golovin*. “Crosslinking Inert Liquidlike Polydimethylsiloxane Brushes using Bis-Diazirine Chemical Insertion for Enhanced Mechanical Durability.” Chemical Engineering Journal (2022): 136017. 
  • Xiaoxiao Zhao, Behrooz Khatir, Kiana Mirshahidi, Kai Yu, Jayachandran N. Kizhakkedathu, and Kevin Golovin*. “Macroscopic Evidence of the Liquidlike Nature of Nanoscale Polydimethylsiloxane Brushes.” ACS Nano, 15, no. 8: 13559-13567 (2021).
  • Xiaoxiao Zhao, Daniel S. Park, Junseo Choi, Sungook Park, Steven A. Soper, and Michael C. Murphy*. “Flexible-templated Imprinting for Fluorine-free, Omniphobic Plastics with Re-entrant Structures.” Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 585: 668-675. (2021).
  • Xiaoxiao Zhao, Daniel S. Park, Junseo Choi, Sunggook Park, Steven A. Soper, and Michael C. Murphy*. “Robust, transparent, superhydrophobic coatings using novel hydrophobic/hydrophilic dual-sized silica particles.” Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 574: 347-354 (2020).

Professional Activities / Memberships:

  • American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
  • American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE)