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Advanced sensing for environmental applications
Turning chemical signals into actionable environmental intelligence.
Our group develops sensing platforms, data-driven analytics, and materials-aware workflows for detecting water contaminants, improving plastic recycling, and powering next-generation environmental monitoring.
Group
People
Principal Investigator
Dr. Yaoli Zhao
Dr. Yaoli Zhao is an Assistant Professor at Kennesaw State University whose research focuses on advanced sensing technologies for environmental applications. My group develops analytical and data-driven platforms for detecting water contaminants, supporting plastic recycling, and enabling AI-powered sensing systems for environmental decision-making.
Dr. Zhao earned a bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering from Dalian University of Technology in 2019 and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University at Buffalo, SUNY, in 2024. From 2025 to 2026, she conducted postdoctoral research at Tufts University.
The lab welcomes students interested in environmental sensing, analytical chemistry, materials characterization, data science, and sustainable technologies.
Open position
Member profile will be added.
Open position
Member profile will be added.
Research focus
Sensor systems for cleaner water, smarter materials recovery, and faster decisions.
We combine analytical chemistry, materials characterization, optical and electrochemical sensing, and AI-assisted data interpretation to address environmental challenges at the interface of water quality, emerging contaminants, and circular materials.
Research
Current and emerging project directions
Emerging contaminants
PFAS Detection
Rapid sensing strategies for persistent fluorinated contaminants in water systems.
Circular materials
Plastic Recycling
Sensing and data tools for identifying, sorting, and improving polymer recovery streams.
Intelligent instruments
AI to Power Sensing Technology
Machine learning workflows that transform raw sensor responses into reliable decisions.
Publications
Selected Publications and Scholarly Profile
Google Scholar Profile
View complete publication record
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Yaoli Zhao, Charuvahan Adhivarahan, Chandra Lekha Jyothula, Karthik Dantu, Thomas Thundat, Amit Goyal, Determining the percentage of recycled plastic content in a plastic product. Communications Engineering 5 (1), 51 (2026).
Yaoli Zhao, Kyle Leatt, K Prabakar, Diana S Aga, Thomas Thundat, Real-time standoff detection of trace levels of PFAS in water using photothermal nanomechanical spectroscopy. ACS sensors 10 (6), 4194-4201 (2025).
Yaoli Zhao, NK Jannabhatla, Thomas Thundat, Advanced Photothermal Spectroscopy for Trace PFAS Detection. ECS Sensors Plus 4 (1), 013401 (2025).
Yaoli Zhao, Kyle Leatt, K Prabakar, Amit Goyal, Thomas Thundat, Real-time detection of trace analytes using molecular-antenna-enhanced photothermal spectroscopy. Device 3 (5) (2025).
Zhengxi Xuan, Yaoli Zhao, Shuo Liu, Avisek Dutta, Zheng Fu, Paras N Prasad, Thomas Thundat, Mark T Swihart, Magnetic Iron Oxide Seed-mediated Formation of 2D ZnO Core–shell Nanostructures. ACS Applied Nano Materials 8 (1), 351-360 (2025).
Md Abdul Kaium Khan, Yaoli Zhao, Shreyan Datta, Puspita Paul, Shoaib Vasini, Thomas Thundat, Peter Q Liu, Deterministic fabrication of liquid metal nanopatterns for nanophotonics applications. Small 20 (50), 2403722 (2024).
Yaoli Zhao, Kyle Leatt, Patatri Chakraborty, Leqi Lin, K Prabakar, Thomas Thundat, Rapid standoff spectroscopic characterization of plastic waste using quartz tuning fork. Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical 414, 135927 (2024).
Abhishek Kumar, Yaoli Zhao, Sadaf Mohsenifard, Vaishali Maheshkar, Thomas Thundat, Mark T Swihart, Platinum Decorated Palladium Nanowires for Room‐Temperature Hydrogen Detection. Advanced Sensor Research 3 (8), 2400013 (2024).
Paschalis Alexandridis, Karthik Dantu, Christian Ferger, Ali Ghasemi, Gabrielle Kerr, Vaishali Maheshkar, Javid Rzayev, Nicholas Stavinski, Thomas Thundat, Marina Tsianou, Luis Velarde, Yaoli Zhao, Valorization of Plastic Waste via Advanced Separation and Processing. Technology Innovation for the Circular Economy: Recycling, Remanufacturing, Design, Systems Analysis and Logistics, 495-506 (2024).
Yaoli Zhao, Patatri Chakraborty, Ali Passian, Thomas Thundat, Chemical Sensing Using Thermocouple Cantilevers: Pushing Toward Quantum Sensing. Electrochemical Society Meeting Abstracts prime2024 (64), 4314-4314 (2024).
Yaoli Zhao, Kyle Leatt, Prabakar Krishna Murthy, Thomas Thundat, Rapid Detection of Trace Levels of Perfluorooctanoic Acid Using Photothermal Cantilever Deflection Spectroscopy. Electrochemical Society Meeting Abstracts prime2024 (64), 4310-4310 (2024).
Patatri Chakraborty, Yaoli Zhao, Thomas Thundat, Amit Goyal, Transient Thermal Barcode: A High Speed, High Throughput Plastic Sorting Based on Molecular Vibrational Signature.. 2024 AIChE Annual Meeting (2024).
Alexis Sill-Ruiz, Gayatri Ranade, Yaoli Zhao, Kyle Leatt, Chen Chen, Thomas Thundat, Ajit Khosla, Turnkey System for Detection of Vapor Phase Analytes in Real-World Conditions. PRiME 2024 (October 6-11, 2024) (2024).
Kyle Leatt, Yaoli Zhao, Krishnamurthy Prabakar, Thomas Thundat, Non-Contact Chemical Sensing of Physisorbed Molecules with Chemical Selectivity. PRiME 2024 (October 6-11, 2024) (2024).
Yaoli Zhao, Patatri Chakraborty, Ali Passian, Thomas Thundat, (Sensor Division Student Research Award) Ultra-Sensitive Photothermal Spectroscopy for Attogram-Level Detection. Electrochemical Society Meeting Abstracts 245 (49), 2663-2663 (2024).
Yaoli Zhao, Patatri Chakraborty, Zixia Meng, Asalatha Nair, Amit Goyal, Thomas Thundat, Molecular characterization of plastic waste using standoff photothermal spectroscopy. ECS Sensors Plus 2 (4), 043401 (2023).
Yaoli Zhao, Patatri Chakraborty, Ali Passian, Thomas Thundat, Ultrasensitive photothermal spectroscopy: Harnessing the Seebeck effect for attogram-level detection. Nano Letters 23 (17), 7883-7889 (2023).
Yaoli Zhao, Thomas Thundat, Scott Cushing, Reports from the Frontier: Advanced Sensing Strategies for Chemical Characterization. The Electrochemical Society Interface 32 (4), 48-50 (2023).
Patatri Chakraborty, Yaoli Zhao, Amit Goyal, Thomas Thundat, High Throughput Plastic Sorting Technique Based on Molecular Vibrational Signatures. Electrochemical Society Meeting Abstracts 243 (52), 2627-2627 (2023).
Yaoli Zhao, Patatri Chakraborty, Zixia Meng, Thomas Thundat, Real-Time Plastic Waste Recognition with Mid-IR Standoff Detection and Advanced Machine Learning. 2023 AIChE Annual Meeting (2023).
Yaoli Zhao, Gayatri Ranade, Michael Tidwell, Charles Van Neste, Thomas Thundat, Field Deployable Sensor Arrays with Molecular Selectivity for Soil Health. Electrochemical Society Meeting Abstracts 243 (52), 2596-2596 (2023).
Yaoli Zhao, Thomas Thundat, Reports from the Frontier. Electrochemical Society Interface (2023).
Yufeng Ma, Yanan Xiao, Yaoli Zhao, Yu Bei, Lihong Hu, Yonghong Zhou, Puyou Jia, Biomass based polyols and biomass based polyurethane materials as a route towards sustainability. Reactive and Functional Polymers 175, 105285 (2022).
Abhishek Kumar, Yaoli Zhao, Mohammad Moein Mohammadi, Jun Liu, Thomas Thundat, Mark T Swihart, Palladium nanosheet-based dual gas sensors for sensitive room-temperature hydrogen and carbon monoxide detection. ACS sensors 7 (1), 225-234 (2022).
Dongmei Dong, Tinsley Elizabeth Benhaddouch, Christopher Lloyd Metler, John Marcial, Yaoli Zhao, Vagheeswari Venkadesh, Thomas Thundat, Shekhar Bhansali, Pseudocapacitive charge storage in electrochromic transition-metal oxide thin films. Journal of The Electrochemical Society 169 (8), 080511 (2022).
Abhishek Kumar, Yaoli Zhao, Shema Rachel Abraham, Thomas Thundat, Mark T Swihart, Pd Alloy Nanosheet Inks for Inkjet‐Printable H2 Sensors on Paper. Advanced Materials Interfaces 9 (20), 2200363 (2022).
Yaoli Zhao, Patatri Chakraborty, Nicholas Stavinski, Luis Velarde, Vaishali Maheshkar, Karthik Dantu, Arindam Phani, Seonghwan Kim, Thomas Thundat, Standoff and point detection of thin polymer layers using microcantilever photothermal spectroscopy. Journal of The Electrochemical Society 169 (3), 037501 (2022).
Yaoli Zhao, Patatri Chakraborty, Vaishali Maheshkar, Karthik Dantu, Nicholas Stavinski, Luis Velarde, Thomas Thundat, Multi-Modal Stand-Off Detection of Plastics for Sorting Application. Electrochemical Society Meeting Abstracts 242 (61), 2254-2254 (2022).
Yaoli Zhao, Ali Passian, Thomas Thundat, Thermal and Mechanical Characterization of Thin Polymer Films Using Microcantilevers. 241st ECS Meeting (May 29-June 2, 2022) (2022).
Abhishek Kumar, Mohammad Moein Mohammadi, Yaoli Zhao, Yang Liu, Jun Liu, Thomas Thundat, Mark T Swihart, Reduced Graphene Oxide-Wrapped Palladium Nanowires Coated with a Layer of Zeolitic Imidazolate Framework‑8 for Hydrogen Sensing. ACS Applied Nano Materials 4 (8), 8081-8093 (2021).
Yaoli Zhao, Catherine Canfield, Siyu Cui, Thomas Thundat, Standoff detection of plastics. Electrochemical Society Meeting Abstracts 240 (56), 1663-1663 (2021).
Abhishek Kumar, Yaoli Zhao, Thomas Thundat, Mark Swihart, Low-Cost Paper-Based Sensors for Ultra-Fast Room-Temperature Hydrogen Detection Using Palladium Alloy Nanowires. 2021 AIChE Annual Meeting (2021).
Yaoli Zhao, Catherine Canfield, Siyu Cui, Thomas Thundat, Brandon Nieman, Matthew Pearce, Charles Van Neste, (Invited) Photothermal Cantilever Sensors for Soil Health Monitoring. Electrochemical Society Meeting Abstracts 240 (56), 1669-1669 (2021).
Runlin Han, Da Teng, Yaoli Zhao, Xigao Jian, Shouhai Zhang, Facile Preparation of Positively Charged and Solvent‐Resistant Cellulose Acetate/LSCF Nanofiltration Membranes. Chemical Engineering & Technology 41 (2), 313-318 (2018).
News
Lab updates
2026 · Awards
Recycled-content measurement work earns two R&D 100 honors.
Our technology for determining the percentage of recycled content received a 2026 R&D 100 Award and Bronze recognition in the Corporate Social Responsibility category.
February 28, 2024 · Research news
Scientists discover a “super sensor” for the smallest scales.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory highlighted the team’s photothermal nanomechanical sensor, capable of detecting material at the attogram scale.
December 5, 2023 · Award
Yaoli Zhao receives the 2023 ECS Sensor Division Student Research Award.
The award recognized contributions to standoff and point chemical detection using photothermal and photoacoustic effects with microfabricated cantilevers.
September 29, 2023 · Journal highlight
Nature Photonics features photothermal attogram spectroscopy.
A News & Views article highlighted the team’s photothermal junction sensor and its promise for ultrasensitive molecular detection and spectroscopy.
2023 · Featured perspective
Reports from the Frontier spotlights advanced sensing strategies.
Yaoli Zhao and Thomas Thundat shared a first-person perspective on advanced sensing strategies for chemical characterization in The Electrochemical Society Interface.
2022 · Competition award
University at Buffalo team takes second place in the Keysight Innovation Challenge.
Yaoli Zhao, Patatri Chakraborty, and Vaishali Maheshkar were recognized for their sensor concept for real-time greenhouse-gas monitoring.
November 22, 2022 · Competition
Three University at Buffalo PhD students named Keysight Innovation Challenge finalists.
The team advanced with a piezo-cantilever sensor designed for real-time monitoring of eight greenhouse gases with LoRa communication.
Contact
Connect With The Lab
We are interested in collaborations across environmental monitoring, sensing platforms, water quality, circular materials, and AI-assisted instrumentation.
Kennesaw, GA