Wenhao Shao

Blurred image of a green laser used as background for stylistic purposes.
Assistant Professor

Wenhao was born and raised in Shanghai, China. He earned his B.S. in Chemistry from Fudan University in 2017, where he conducted research on rare-earth upconversion luminescent nanoparticles under the guidance of Prof. Fuyou Li and Prof. Wei Feng. Wenhao completed his Ph.D. in Chemistry at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 2022, working with Prof. Jinsang Kim on the computation-assisted molecular design, synthesis, and photophysics of organic triplet emitters. He then joined Purdue University as a postdoctoral researcher in Prof. Letian Dou’s group, focusing on metal-halide perovskites.

In 2025, Wenhao began his independent career as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at the University of Georgia. His research group explores molecular design, self-assembly, and photophysics of purely organic semiconductors and organic-inorganic hybrid materials, with an emphasis on their photonic and electronic applications.

Education:

Ph.D. in Chemistry, University of Michigan, 2022

B.S. in Chemistry, Fudan University, 2017

Research Interests:

Organic semiconductors, organic-inorganic hybrid materials, self-assembly, photophysics, photonics, electronics, energy, quantum science

Selected Publications:
  1. Ionic liquids improve perovskite solar cells long-term stability. Xu, W.†; Shao, W.†; Dou, L.*; et al. Nat. Energy. Accepted
  2. Molecular templating of layered halide perovskite nanowires. Shao, W.†; Kim, J. H.†; Dou, L.*; et al. Science 2024, 384, 1000-1006.
    -    News highlight: Purdue, Bioengineer.org, ScienceDaily, Phys.org.
  3. Grain engineering for efficient near-infrared perovskite light-emitting diodes.Baek, S. -B.†; Shao, W.†; Dou, L.*; et al. Nat. Commun. 2024, 15, 10760.
  4. Metal-Free Organic Phosphors toward Fast and Efficient Room-Temperature Phosphorescence.
    Shao, W.; Kim, J.* Acc. Chem. Res. 2022, 1573–1585.
  5. Metal-Free Organic Triplet-Emitters with On-Off Switchable Excited State Intramolecular Proton Transfer.
    Shao, W.; Kim, J.*; et al. Adv. Funct. Mater. 2022, 32, 2201256.
  6. Heavy Atom Oriented Orbital Angular Momentum Manipulation in Metal-Free Organic Phosphors.
    Shao, W.; Kim, J.*; et al. Chem. Sci. 2022, 13(3), 789-797.