Publications

† corresponding author  ·  * equal contribution  ·  underlined = supervised trainee (student or postdoc)

Google Scholar  ·  8,631 citations  ·  h-index 29  ·  i10-index 57 (as of October 2026)

2026

Making coupled-field Abaqus user elements simple
T. Zhang†
Extreme Mechanics Letters, 89, 102530.
Magnetic coupling transforms random snapping into ordered sequences in soft metamaterials
H. Sun, G. Alkuino, Y. Chi, Y. Zabila, H. Qing, D. Makarov, T. Zhang, and J. Yin
Science Advances, 12 (12), eaec3182.
A bionic robotic trunk with tensegrity-enabled elephant-comparable stiffness variability for assisted daily living
J. Zhang, C. Yang, H. Yang, P. Ma, C. He, T. Zhang, X. Wang, K. Liu, X. Jia, and H. Peng
Nature Communications, 17, 3545.
Magnetically reconfigurable multistable ribbon arrays for liquid manipulation
Z. Wang, G. Alkuino, S. Avis, Y. Li, X. Zhang, Y. Zhang, S. Li, H. Kusumaatmaja†, T. Zhang†, and X. Wang†
Device, 4 (1), 100986.
Control of cytocompatible metallic and polymeric wrinkle morphologies using programming via printing (PvP)
J. Agyapong, T. Zhang, and J. Henderson
ACS Omega, 11 (2), 3326–3335.
Fictitious magnetic charge model for magneto-mechanical metamaterials
Y. Zhang, G. Alkuino, and T. Zhang†
Journal of Applied Mechanics, 93 (1), 011009.
New insights into morphing food through a semi-automated system for creating accurate surface grooves of varying depths on cereal-based snacks
E. Di Palma, A. Derossi, R. Caporizzi, L. Yao, T. Zhang, and C. Severini
Journal of Food Engineering, 402, 112700.
Shear by design: nature’s multiscale strategy for mechanical resilience
M. Horstemeyer, N. Lee, T. Zhang, P. Savas, and H. Gao
Materials Today, 99, 103486.

2025

Spatially patterned stiffness variation in a light-triggered jumper for symmetry breaking and high snap-through efficiency
M. Hahm, W. Cho, J. Jeon, H. Kim, T. Zhang, and J. Wie
Science Advances, 11 (35), eadx8301.
Biofilm control by active topography with mucin coating
Z. Han, Y. Xu, H. Gu, T. Zhang, and D. Ren
Advanced Functional Materials, 35 (31), 2422753.
Controlling droplets at the tips of fibers
M. He, S. Hulikal, M. Marquardt, H. Jiang, A. Pandey, T. Zhang, C. Santangelo, and J. Paulsen
Physical Review Fluids, 10 (7), 073602.
Dynamic shape changes of dried pasta during cooking via designed surface grooves
E. Di Palma, A. Derossi, T. Zhang, L. Yao, R. Caporizzi, and C. Severini
Journal of Food Engineering, 388, 112362.
Thermal gradient-driven heterogeneous actuation of liquid crystal elastomers for a crawling robot
Y. Li, Z. Wang, Y. Lu, H. Li, Z. Weng, J. Sun, Y. Zhang, T. Zhang, and X. Wang
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 17 (6), 9992–10003.
Stiff, lightweight, and programmable architectured pyrolytic carbon lattices via modular assembling
A. Naderi, W. Lin, A. Tarafdar, T. Zhang, and Y. Wang
Communications Materials, 6 (1), 13.
A compliant metastructure design with reconfigurability up to six degrees of freedom
H. Yang, D. Patel, T. Johnson, K. Zhong, G. Olson, C. Majidi, M. Islam, T. Zhang†, and L. Yao†
Nature Communications, 16 (1), 719.

2024

Physics-based discrete models for magneto-mechanical metamaterials
G. Alkuino and T. Zhang†
Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids, 191, 105759.
Finding transition state and minimum energy path of bistable elastic continua through energy landscape explorations
G. Wan*, S. Avis*, Z. Wang, X. Wang†, H. Kusumaatmaja†, and T. Zhang†
Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids, 183, 105503.
Controlling the roll-to-helix transformation in electron-beam-patterned gel-based micro-ribbons
X. Wu, T. Zhang, and M. Libera
Soft Matter, 20 (39), 7946–7956.
Elasto-plastic effects on shape-shifting electron-beam-patterned gel-based micro-helices
X. Wu, F. Teng, E. Firlar, T. Zhang, and M. Libera
Materials Horizons, 11 (14), 3427–3436.
Analyzing wrinkling instabilities in constrained dielectric elastomers: a symplectic eigenvalue approach
T. Zhang†
Chinese Journal of Computational Mechanics, 41 (1).

2023

Image-based polygonal lattices for mechanical modeling of biological materials: 2D demonstrations
D. Liu, C. Chen, and T. Zhang†
ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering, 9 (7), 3953–3961.
Autonomous self-burying seed carriers for aerial seeding Cover article
D. Luo, A. Maheshwari, A. Danielescu, J. Li, Y. Yang, Y. Tao, L. Sun, D. Patel, G. Wang†, S. Yang†, T. Zhang†, and L. Yao†
Nature, 614, 463–470.
Numerical study of metachronal wave-modulated locomotion in magnetic cilia carpets
H. Jiang, H. Gu, B. Nelson, and T. Zhang†
Advanced Intelligent Systems, 5 (10), 2300212.
Mechanics of tunable adhesion with surface wrinkles
T. Zhang†
Journal of Applied Mechanics, 90 (12), 121003.
Tunable dry adhesion of soft hollow pillars through sidewall buckling under low pressure
G. Wan, Y. Tang, K. Turner, T. Zhang†, and W. Shan†
Advanced Functional Materials, 33 (2), 2209905.
Large biaxial recovered strains in self-shrinking 3D shape-memory polymer parts programmed via printing with application to improve cell seeding
K. Pieri, D. Liu, P. Soman, T. Zhang, and J. Henderson
Advanced Materials Technologies, 8 (9), 2201997.
Printing parameters of fused filament fabrication affect key properties of four-dimensional printed shape-memory polymers
K. Pieri, B. Felix, T. Zhang, P. Soman, and J. Henderson
3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing, 10 (2), 279–288.

2022

Morphing of stiffness-heterogeneous liquid crystal elastomers via mechanical training and locally controlled photopolymerization
Y. Li, G. Parlato, F. Masese, R. Kasi, T. Zhang†, and X. Wang†
Matter, 5 (12), 4332–4346.
In vitro model to study confined osteocyte networks exposed to flow-induced mechanical stimuli
K. Zhang, C. Ogando, A. Filip, T. Zhang, J. Horton, and P. Soman
Biomedical Materials, 17 (6), 065027.
Coupling lattice model and many-body dissipative particle dynamics to make elastocapillary simulation simple
C. Chen and T. Zhang†
Extreme Mechanics Letters, 54, 101741.
From static to dynamic: a review on the role of mucus heterogeneity in particle and microbial transport
D. Pednekar, M. Liguori, C. Marques, T. Zhang, N. Zhang, Z. Zhou, K. Amoako, and H. Gu
ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering, 8 (7), 2825–2848.
Shape-programmable three-dimensional microfluidic structures
Z. Wang, H. Jiang, G. Wu, Y. Li, T. Zhang, Y. Zhang, and X. Wang
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 14 (13), 15599–15607.
Controlling mesenchyme tissue remodeling via spatial arrangement of mechanical constraints
T. Winston*, C. Chen*, K. Suddhapas, B. Tarris, S. Elattar, S. Sun, T. Zhang†, and Z. Ma†
Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, 10, 833595.

2021

Morphing pasta and beyond Cover article
Y. Tao, Y. Lee, H. Liu, X. Zhang, J. Cui, C. Mondoa, M. Babaei, J. Santillan, G. Wang, D. Luo, D. Liu, H. Yang, Y. Do, L. Sun, W. Wang†, T. Zhang†, and L. Yao†
Science Advances, 7 (19), eabf4098.
Understanding and controlling hexagonal patterns of wrinkles in neo-Hookean elastic bilayer structures
T. Zhang†
International Journal of Applied Mechanics, 13 (2), 2150024.
Reconfiguration of multistable 3D ferromagnetic mesostructures guided by energy landscape surveys
Y. Li, S. Avis, J. Chen, G. Wu, T. Zhang†, H. Kusumaatmaja†, and X. Wang†
Extreme Mechanics Letters, 48, 101428.
Ultrawide frequency tuning of atomic layer van der Waals heterostructure electromechanical resonators
F. Ye, A. Islam, T. Zhang, and P. Feng
Nano Letters, 21 (13), 5508–5515.
Analytical models for predicting the nonlinear stress–strain relationships and behaviors of two-dimensional carbon materials
Z. Xiong, T. Zhang, and X. Li
Journal of Applied Mechanics, 88 (8), 081005.
Dynamically tunable friction via subsurface stiffness modulation
S. Sharifi, C. Rux, N. Sparling, G. Wan, A. Mohammadi Nasab, A. Siddaiah, P. Menezes, T. Zhang, and W. Shan
Frontiers in Robotics and AI, 8, 691789.
Magttice: a lattice model for hard-magnetic soft materials Cover article
H. Ye, Y. Li, T. Zhang†
Soft Matter, 17 (13), 3560–3568.
Tailoring the multistability of origami-inspired, buckled magnetic structures via compression and creasing
Y. Li, S. Avis, T. Zhang†, H. Kusumaatmaja†, and X. Wang†
Materials Horizons, 8 (12), 3324–3333.

2020

Mesoscale structure of wrinkle patterns and defect-proliferated liquid crystalline phases
O. Tovkach*, J. Chen*, M. Ripp, T. Zhang†, J. Paulsen†, and B. Davidovitch†
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117 (8), 3938–3943.
Magnetically driven active topography for long-term biofilm control
H. Gu, S. Lee, J. Carnicelli, T. Zhang, and D. Ren
Nature Communications, 11, 2211.
Geometry underlies the mechanical stiffening and softening of an indented floating film Cover article
M. Ripp, V. Démery*, T. Zhang†, and J. Paulsen†
Soft Matter, 16 (17), 4121–4130.
OpenFSI: a highly efficient and portable fluid–structure simulation package based on immersed-boundary method
H. Ye, Z. Shen, W. Xian, T. Zhang, S. Tang, and Y. Li
Computer Physics Communications, 256, 107463.

2019

Harnessing energy landscape exploration to control the buckling of cylindrical shells
J. Panter, J. Chen, T. Zhang†, and H. Kusumaatmaja†
Communications Physics, 2, 151.
Non-uniform curvature and anisotropic deformation control wrinkling patterns on tori
X. Zhang, P. Mather, M. Bowick†, and T. Zhang†
Soft Matter, 15 (26), 5204–5210.
Deriving a lattice model for neo-Hookean solids from finite element methods
T. Zhang†
Extreme Mechanics Letters, 26, 40–45.
Symplectic analysis of wrinkles in elastic layers with graded stiffnesses
J. Sui, J. Chen, X. Zhang, G. Nie, and T. Zhang†
Journal of Applied Mechanics, 86 (1), 011008.
Cerebellar folding is initiated by mechanical constraints on a fluid-like layer without a cellular pre-pattern
A. Lawton, T. Engstrom, D. Rohrbach, M. Omura, D. Turnbull, J. Mamou, T. Zhang, J. Schwarz, and A. Joyner
eLife, 8, e45019.
Topological design of graphene
B. Ni, T. Zhang, J. Li, X. Li, and H. Gao
Handbook of Graphene, Vol. 2 (book chapter), 1–44.

2018

Thermorph: democratizing 4D printing of self-folding materials and interfaces
B. An, Y. Tao, J. Gu, T. Cheng, X. Chen, X. Zhang, W. Zhao, Y. Do, S. Takahashi, H. Wu, T. Zhang, and L. Yao
Proceedings of ACM CHI.
Buckling without bending: a new paradigm in morphogenesis
T. Engstrom†, T. Zhang†, A. Lawton, A. Joyner, and J. Schwarz†
Physical Review X, 8 (4), 041053.
Phase field crystal modeling of grain boundary structures and growth in polycrystalline graphene
J. Li, B. Ni, T. Zhang, and H. Gao
Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids, 120, 36–48.

2017

Transformative appetite: shape-changing food transforms from 2D to 3D by water interaction through cooking
W. Wang, L. Yao, T. Zhang, C. Cheng, D. Levine, and H. Ishii
Proceedings of ACM CHI, 6123–6132.
A review on mechanics and mechanical properties of 2D materials — graphene and beyond
D. Akinwande et al. (including T. Zhang)
Extreme Mechanics Letters, 13, 42–77.
Tough and tunable adhesion of hydrogels: experiments and models
T. Zhang†, H. Yuk, S. Lin, G. Parada, and X. Zhao
Acta Mechanica Sinica, 33 (3), 543–554.
Symplectic analysis for wrinkles: a case study of layered neo-Hookean structures
T. Zhang†
Journal of Applied Mechanics, 84 (7), 071002.
Harnessing the hygroscopic and biofluorescent behaviors of genetically tractable microbial cells to design biohybrid wearables
W. Wang, L. Yao, C. Cheng, T. Zhang, H. Atsumi, L. Wang, G. Wang, O. Anilionyte, H. Steiner, J. Ou, K. Zhou, C. Wawrousek, K. Petrecca, A. Belcher, R. Karnik, X. Zhao, D. Wang, and H. Ishii
Science Advances, 3 (5), e1601984.

2016

A study of hierarchical biological composite structures via a coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulation approach
L. Gao†, G. Nie, and T. Zhang†
International Journal of Applied Mechanics, 8 (6), 1650084.
Skin-inspired hydrogel–elastomer hybrids with robust interfaces and functional microstructures
H. Yuk, T. Zhang, G. Parada, X. Liu, and X. Zhao
Nature Communications, 7, 12028.
Tough bonding of hydrogels to diverse non-porous surfaces
H. Yuk, T. Zhang, S. Lin, G. Parada, and X. Zhao
Nature Materials, 15 (2), 190–196.
Mechanochemically responsive viscoelastic elastomers
M. Takaffoli, T. Zhang, D. Parks, and X. Zhao
Journal of Applied Mechanics, 83 (7), 071007.
Fringe instability in constrained soft elastic layers
S. Lin, T. Cohen, T. Zhang, H. Yuk, R. Abeyaratne, and X. Zhao
Soft Matter, 12 (43), 8899–8906.
Nanotwin-governed toughening mechanism in hierarchically structured biological materials
Y. Shin, S. Yin, X. Li, S. Lee, S. Moon, J. Jeong, M. Kwon, S. Yoo, Y. Kim, T. Zhang, H. Gao, and S. Oh
Nature Communications, 7, 10772.
Stretchable hydrogel electronics and devices
S. Lin, H. Yuk, T. Zhang, G. Parada, H. Koo, C. Yu, and X. Zhao
Advanced Materials, 28 (22), 4497–4505.

2015

Predicting fracture energies and crack-tip fields of soft tough materials
T. Zhang, S. Lin, H. Yuk, and X. Zhao
Extreme Mechanics Letters, 4, 1–8.
The primary bilayer ruga-phase diagram I: localizations in ruga evolution
R. Zhao, T. Zhang, M. Diab, H. Gao, and K. Kim
Extreme Mechanics Letters, 4, 76–82.
Fracture of graphene: a review
T. Zhang, X. Li, and H. Gao
International Journal of Fracture, 196 (1), 1–31.
Employing nanoscale surface morphologies to improve interfacial adhesion between solid electrolytes and Li ion battery cathodes
X. Su, T. Zhang, X. Liang, H. Gao, and B. Sheldon
Acta Materialia, 98, 175–181.
Toughening graphene with topological defects: a perspective
T. Zhang and H. Gao
Journal of Applied Mechanics, 82 (5), 051001.

2014

Designing graphene structures with controlled distributions of topological defects: a case study of toughness enhancement in graphene ruga
T. Zhang, X. Li, and H. Gao
Extreme Mechanics Letters, 1, 3–8.
Defects controlled wrinkling and topological design in graphene
T. Zhang, X. Li, and H. Gao
Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids, 67, 2–13.
An accordion model integrating self-cleaning, strong attachment and easy detachment functionalities of gecko adhesion
T. Zhang, Z. Zhang, K. Kim, and H. Gao
Journal of Adhesion Science and Technology, 28 (3–4), 226–239.

2013

Ruga mechanics of creasing: from instantaneous to setback creases
M. Diab, T. Zhang, R. Zhao, H. Gao, and K. Kim
Proceedings of the Royal Society A, 469, 20120753.

2012

Flaw insensitive fracture in nanocrystalline graphene
T. Zhang, X. Li, S. Kadkhodaei, and H. Gao
Nano Letters, 12 (9), 4605–4610.
Strain-controlled switching of hierarchically wrinkled surfaces between superhydrophobicity and superhydrophilicity
Z. Zhang, T. Zhang, Y. Zhang, K. Kim, and H. Gao
Langmuir, 28 (5), 2753–2760.

2011

Symplectic method for energy bands and surface states of 1D periodic structure with defects
Q. Gao, T. Zhang, and W. Zhong
Chinese Journal of Solid Mechanics, 32 (4), 372–381 (in Chinese).

2010

A study on the bending stiffness of single-walled carbon nanotubes and related issues
X. Guo and T. Zhang
Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids, 58 (3), 428–443.