Yunxiang Gao
Yunxiang Gao, Ph.D.
Associate Professor

Associate Professor

Phone 936-261-3190, Email: yugao@pvamu.edu
Office: Room 306, E.E.O’Banion Building, Prairie View A&M University, Prairie View, TX 77446

Group Website: https://yxgao.weebly.com

Education

  • Ph.D., Ohio University, 2010
  • M.S., University of Science and Technology of China, 2006
  • B.S., Inner Mongolia University, 2002

Work History

  • Assistant Professor of Chemistry, Prairie View A&M University, Prairie View, TX, United States (2018 – Present)
  • Visiting Researcher, Rice University, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Houston, TX, United States (2016 – 2018)
  • Postdoctoral Research Associate, Kent State University, Liquid Crystal Institute, Kent, OH, United States (2013 – 2015)
  • Postdoctoral Research Associate, Case Western Reserve University, Macromolecular Science and Engineering, Cleveland, OH, United States (2010 – 2013)

Biography

Dr. Yunxiang Gao joined Prairie View A&M University as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry in Fall 2018. His research centers on materials chemistry and physics, utilizing nanomaterials and soft matter for applications in energy-related electrocatalysis, sustainable environmental and agricultural technologies, and bioengineering. Between 2022 and 2024, Dr. Gao secured over $3.7 million in external funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Department of Energy (DOE), and industry partners such as Shell Oil Company. Dr. Gao is committed to advancing interdisciplinary materials science and actively collaborates with researchers across various fields to drive impactful research.

Awards

  • USDA-NIFA Grant, $500,000, 2022-2025
  • DOE Grant, $750,000, 2023-2026
  • Shell Oil Company Grant, $2.52 million, 2023-2026
  • TAMU-PVAMU PRIZE, $40,000, 2024-2025
  • Second Place Prize, Poster Presentation, 2019 PVAMU Faculty Research Symposium

Memberships

  • American Chemical Society
  • Royal Society of Chemistry
  • Sustainable Nanotechnology Organization

Teaching Interests

Dr. Gao teaches courses in General Chemistry, Physical Chemistry, Advanced Physical Chemistry, and their associated laboratory courses.

Courses Taught

  • CHEM 1303: General Inorganic Chemistry I
  • CHEM 1203: General Inorganic Chemistry Lab I
  • CHEM 1304: General Inorganic Chemistry II
  • CHEM 1204: General Inorganic Chemistry Lab II
  • CHEM 1106: General Chemistry Lab
  • CHEM 1112: General Chemistry Lab II
  • CHEM 3341: Physical Chemistry I
  • CHEM 3242: Physical Chemistry Lab I
  • CHEM 3342: Physical Chemistry II
  • CHEM 3243: Physical Chemistry Lab II
  • CHEM 5378: Advanced Physical Chemistry

Research

The Gao group focuses on interdisciplinary research at the interface of polymers and nanomaterials to meet critical needs in biomedical applications, energy conversion, sustainable agriculture, and soft robotics. By building soft materials ranging from biodegradable block-co-polymers, liquid crystalline polymers, hydrogels, elastomers, and their hybrid composites with various carbon, metal, metal oxide nanostructures such as: carbon nanotubes, graphene, silver nanowires, we develop cutting-edge novel materials incorporated with various functionalities. The research projects include:

  • Novel agricultural nanocomposites for water retention and sustainable fertilizing
  • Smart cell culture scaffold for tissue engineering applications
  • Soft robotics based on stimuli-responsive artificial muscles
  • Carbon nanomaterials for energy conversion

For more information, please visit our Group Website.

Research Projects

  1. Nanomaterials for Sustainable Electro-catalysis

This project focuses on developing advanced carbon nanomaterials via carbon lattice engineering for use as high-performance catalyst support in sustainable energy applications. The project combines the unique properties of fullerenes, carbon nanotubes and graphene, with defect- or doping-control, to create a hybrid structure that improves catalytic activity in key energy conversion reactions, including the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in fuel cells or electrochemically CO2 reduction (eCO2RR).

  1. Nanocomposites for Sustainable Environmental and Agricultural Technologies

This project develops multifunctional nanocomposites integrating nanomaterials with hydrogels for microgels. These materials offer enhanced water retention, sustained fertilizer release, and rapid water purification. The incorporation of nano-additives improves the mechanical strength and the function diversity, making them effective under soil-confined, water-limited conditions typically found in dry environments.

  1. Liquid Crystalline Elastomers for Tissue Engineering

Dr. Gao’s research on liquid crystalline elastomers (LCEs) focuses on developing anisotropic materials that facilitate cell alignment and tissue growth. LCEs exhibit reversible shape-memory transitions and anisotropic mechanical properties, making them ideal scaffolds for guiding tissue regeneration. The project involves synthesizing LCE films with controlled crystallinity and thickness, optimizing them for use as artificial muscles in soft robotics and as scaffolds for anisotropic tissue regeneration.

Journal Articles (Selected)

  1. Gao, Y.*; Islam, M.T.; Otuokere, P.U.; Pulikkathara, M.; Liu, Y. The Stability of UV-Defluorination-Driven Crosslinked Carbon Nanotubes: A Raman Study. Nanomaterials 2024, 14(17), 1464. https://doi.org/10.3390/nano14171464
  2. Liu, Y.; Gao, Y.; Altalhi, T.; Liu, D.J.; Johnson, B.R.; Yakobson, B.I. Quantum Mechanical MP2 Study of the Electronic Effect of Nonplanarity on the Carbon Pyramidalization of Fullerene C60. Nanomaterials 2024, 14(19), 1576. https://doi.org/10.3390/nano14191576
  3. Ezeogu, F.L.; Ojha, G.P.; Otuokere, P.U.; Islam, M.T.; Grady, T.; Gao, Y.* Repurposing Quality-Downgraded Fluorinated Carbon Nanotubes as Eco-Additives in Microgel Composites for Sustained Water Release. Sustainability 2024, 16(21), 9468. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16219468
  4. Liu, Y.; Sulaiman, H.F.; Johnson, B.R.; Ma, R.; Gao, Y.; et al. QM/MM Study of N501 Involved Intermolecular Interaction Between SARS-CoV-2 Receptor Binding Domain and Antibody of Human Origin. Computational Biology and Chemistry 2023, 102, 107810. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compbiolchem.2023.107810
  5. Gao, Y.; Zhang, L.; Xia, Z.; Li, C.M.; Dai, L. Hole-Punching for Enhancing Electrocatalytic Activities of 2D Graphene Electrodes: Less is More. Journal of Chemical Physics 2020, 153(7), 074701. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0012709
  6. Mori, T.; Cukelj, R.; Prévôt, M.E.; Ustunel, S.; Story, A.; Gao, Y.; et al. 3D Porous Liquid Crystal Elastomer Foams Supporting Long-term Neuronal Cultures. Macromolecular Rapid Communications 2020, 41(5), e1900585. https://doi.org/1002/marc.201900585
  7. Gao, Y. Carbon Nano-Allotrope/Magnetic Nanoparticle Hybrid Nanomaterials as T2 Contrast Agents for Magnetic Resonance Imaging Applications. Journal of Functional Biomaterials 2018, 9(1), 16. https://doi.org/10.3390/jfb9010016
  8. Gao Y.; Chen H,; Ge J,; Zhao J,; Li Q,; Tang J,; Cui Y,; Chen L. Direct Intertube Cross-Linking of Carbon Nanotubes at Room Temperature. Nano Letters. 2016, 16(10), 6541. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.6b03184
  9. Gao Y.; Mori T.; Manning S.; et al. Biocompatible 3D Liquid Crystal Elastomer Cell Scaffolds and Foams with Primary and Secondary Porous Architecture. ACS Macro Letters, 2015, 5(1), 4. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsmacrolett.5b00729
  10. Zhang, M.; Gao, Y.; Caja, K.; Zhao, B.; Kim, J.A. Non-Viral Nanoparticle Delivers Small Interfering RNA to Macrophages In Vitro and In Vivo. PLoS ONE 2015, 10(3), e0118472. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0118472
  11. Yan L.; Gao Y.; Pierce R.; Dai L.; Kim J.; Zhang M. Development of Y-shaped peptide for constructing nanoparticle systems targeting tumor-associated macrophages in vitro and in vivo.    Materials       Research      Express 2014, 1(2), 025007. https://doi.org/10.1088/20531591/1/2/025007
  12. Liu J.; Xue Y.; Gao Y.; Yu D.; Durstock M.; Dai L. Hole and Electron Extraction Layers Based on Graphene Oxide Derivatives for High‐Performance Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells. Advanced Materials. 2012, 24(17), 2228. https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.201104945
  13. Gao, Y.; Chen, L. Versatile Control of Multiphase Laminar Flow for In-Channel Microfabrication. Lab on a Chip 2008, 8(10), 1695. https://doi.org/10.1039/b807468b
  14. Gao Y.; Yu S.H..; Guo X. Double Hydrophilic Block Copolymer Controlled Growth and Self-Assembly of CaCO3 Multilayered Structures at the Air/Water Interface. Langmuir 2006, 22 (14), 6125. https://doi.org/10.1039/b807468b
  15. Gao Y.; Yu S., Cong H.; Jiang J.; Xu A.; Dong W.; Cölfen H. Block-Copolymer-Controlled Growth of CaCO3 Microrings. The Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 2006, 110 (13), 6432. https://doi.org/10.1021/jp0606199