• Relationships between structure and properties of natural polymers and natural inspired materials
• Fine structure, mechanics and spinning of animal silks and their proteins

1.Y. Wang, J. C. Wen, B. Peng, B. W. Hu, X. Chen and Z. Shao*, Understanding the Mechanical Properties and Structure Transition of Antheraea pernyi Silk Fiber Induced by Its Contraction. Biomacromolecules, 2018, 19, 1999-2006.

2.Huang, J. C.; Li, Q.; Z. Shao*, Fabricating highly luminescent solid hybrids based on silicon nanoparticles: a simple, versatile and green method. Nanoscale, 2018, 10, (21), 10250-10255.

3.D. Su, M. Yao, J. Liu, Y. Zhong, X. Chen, Z. Shao*, Enhancing Mechanical Properties of Silk Fibroin Hydrogel through Restricting the Growth of β-Sheet Domains, ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 2017, 9, 17489-17498.

4.K. Luo, Y. Yang, Z. Shao*, Physically Crosslinked Biocompatible Silk Fibroin Based Hydrogels with High Mechanical Performance, Advanced Functional Materials, 2016, 26, 872–880.

5.Y. Sun, Q. Li, S. Sun, J. Huang, B. Zheng, Q. Chen*, Z. Shao*, H. Sun*, Aqueous multiphoton lithography with multifunctional silk-centred bio-resists, Nature Communications, 2015, 6: 8612.

6.H. Guo, J. Zhang, D. Porter, H. Peng, D. W. P. M. Lowik, Y. Wang, Z. Zhang, X. Chen, Z. Shao*, “Ultrafast and reversible thermochromism of a conjugated polymer material based on the assembly of peptide amphiphiles”, Chem. Sci, 2014, 5: 4189-4195

7.T. Xu, S. Wang, Z. Shao*, “Insight into Polycation Chain Length Affecting Transfection Efficiency by O‐Methyl‐free N,N,N‐Trimethyl Chitosans as Gene Carriers”, Pharmaceutical Research, 2014, 31(4): 895-907

8.Q. Li, Y. He, J. Chang, L. Wang, H. Chen, Y.-W. Tian, H. Wang, Z. Shao*, “Surface‐modified Silicon Nanoparticles with Ultrabright Photoluminescence and One‐exponential Decay for Nanoscale Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging of Temperature”, Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2013, 135, 14924−14927.

9.Y. Wang, D. Porter, Z. Shao*, “Using Solvents with Different Molecular Sizes to Investigate the Structure of Antheraea Pernyi Silk”, Biomacromolecules, 2013, 14: 3936−3942

10.Q. Li, Y. He, J. Chang, L. Wang, H. Chen, Y.-W. Tian, H. Wang, Z. Shao*, “Surface‐modified Silicon Nanoparticles with Ultrabright Photoluminescence and One‐exponential Decay for Nanoscale Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging of Temperature”, Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2013, 135: 14924−14927

11.H. Guo, J. Zhang, T. Xu, Z. Zhang, J. Yao, Z. Shao*, “The Robust Hydrogel Hierarchically Assembled from a pH Sensitive Peptide Amphiphile Based on Silk Fibroin”, Biomacromolecules, 2013, 14: 2733−2738

12.R. Hao, J. Zhang, T. Xu, L. Huang, J. Yao, X. Chen, Z. Shao*, “Characterization and assembling investigation of a dodecapeptide hydrolyzed from crystalline domain of Bombyx mori silk fibroin”, Polym. Chem, 2013, 4 (10): 3005-3011

13.T. Wang, D. Porter, Z. Shao*, “Intrinsic Ability of Silk Fibroin to Direct the Formation of Diverse Aragonite Aggregates”, Advanced Functional Materials, 2012, 22(2), 435-441.

14.C. Fu, D. Porter, X. Chen, F. Vollrath, Z. Shao*, “Understanding the Mechanical Properties of Antheraea Pernyi Silk—From Primary Structure to Condensed Structure of the Protein”, Advanced Functional Materials, 2011, 21, 729-737.