Zhenan Bao is a professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Stanford University, where she leads the Bao Research Group. She is a pioneer in organic electronics.
Her team has succeeded in elegantly mimicking the sensitivity and stretchability of human skin in organic semiconductors. Her work has enabled flexible electronic circuits and displays. As a result, skin-inspired organic electronic materials can be found in numerous applications and products in medicine, energy storage and the environment. She subsequently applied this fundamental invention to a sprawling array of devices ranging from health monitoring devices to wireless temperature sensors and biodegradable electronics to stretchable solar cells and self-healing skin.
Bao holds more than 60 U.S. patents and was named one of “Nature’s 10” (top ten people who mattered) as a “Master of Materials” back in 2015. She has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 2021.