Jianxiang Zhao | University of Toronto

About Me

I am a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at the University of Toronto, working in the Microcellular Plastics Manufacturing Laboratory with Prof. Chul B. Park.

My research develops porous polymer composites for passive daytime radiative cooling (PDRC). I use supercritical CO₂ batch foaming to control cellular architecture across the length scales that govern solar scattering and mid-infrared emission, with the goal of producing scalable, solvent-free cooling materials for building envelopes.

Education

Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, University of Toronto, 2025
Advisor: Prof. Patrick C. Lee
M.Sc., Chemical Process Equipment, Zhejiang University, 2020
Advisor: Prof. Zhongbin Xu
B.Sc., Control Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, 2017

Research Interests

Polymer processing of micro- and nano-structured materials
Supercritical CO₂ foaming and cellular structure control
Passive daytime radiative cooling materials
Polymer/mineral composites for optical and thermal management
Shape-memory and adaptive polymer foams
Energy-efficient building envelopes
Physics-informed machine learning for polymer processing
LLM-based automation in polymer processing research

Publications

Toughening mechanism in micro-layered polymer films revealed by in situ micro-tensile testing

Jianxiang Zhao, Abdullah Al Faysal, Jung Uk Lee, Tobin Filleter, Patrick C. Lee

ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 2026.

Under review

Butterfly wing microstructure inspired solid/porous alternating layered structures: In situ visualization of confined foaming

Jianxiang Zhao, Lun Zhang, Jung Uk Lee, Nicole D. Sansone, Jaehyun Kim, Lara Bazbaz, Abdullah Al Faysal, Patrick C. Lee

Small, 2025, 21(40), e08472.

Micro-layered film and foam alternating structures: A novel passive daytime radiative cooling material

Jianxiang Zhao, Hanwei Li, Dongjoon Choi, Patrick C. Lee

Nano Energy, 2024, 127, 109695.

PDF

Microwave foaming of polymers

Jianxiang Zhao, Shuang Zheng, Zheng Xu, Xingyuan Huang

Journal of Materials Science, 2021, 56, 15491-15498.

Solvent-free generation of foamed microcapillary films with a dual network of interconnected pores and internal channels

Jianxiang Zhao, Zheng Xu, Shuang Zheng, Chuntai Liu, Jiaming Liu, Hongsheng Pei

Macromolecular Materials and Engineering, 2020, 305, 1900768.

Bio-inspired laser micro/nanostructuring of highly graphitic carbon enabling structural coloration and high-performance all-weather solar evaporator

Jung Uk Lee, Rafael Aguiar, Terry Y. T. Su, Kyung-Won Kim, Jianxiang Zhao, et al.

Chemical Engineering Journal, 2026, 174935.

In situ UV laser-induced forward transfer of carbon nanosphere/graphene composites on siloxane-polyurethane substrates for human health monitoring

Jung Uk Lee, Rafael Aguiar, Jianxiang Zhao, et al.

Advanced Composites and Hybrid Materials, 2026.

Nano-Layered Films and Foams

Terry Su, Abdullah Al Faysal, Jianxiang Zhao, Patrick C. Lee

In Polyester Films: Materials, Processes and Applications, pp. 225-276.

Production of high aspect-ratio rectangular-lumen microtube by gas-assisted microextrusion

Lei Wang, Xingyuan Huang, Jianxiang Zhao, Chuntai Liu, Zheng Xu, Hongsheng Pei

Journal of Applied Polymer Science, 2020, 49352.

Fabrication and application of flexible rectangular microtubes

Xingyuan Huang, Lei Wang, Jianxiang Zhao, Chuntai Liu, Feng Zhou, Zheng Xu, Hongsheng Pei

Polymer-Plastics Technology and Materials, 2020, 59, 959-965.

Numerical simulations of wall contact angle effects on droplet size during step emulsification

Meng Wang, Chuidian Kong, Qi Liang, Jianxiang Zhao, Ming Wen, Zheng Xu, Xiaodong Ruan

RSC Advances, 2018, 8, 33042-33047.

Services

Journal Reviewer

Conference Presentations

ANTEC 2025, Society of Plastics Engineers, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Bio-mimetic micro-/nano-layered foams: In situ visualization of cell nucleation and growth dynamics.
ANTEC 2024, Society of Plastics Engineers, St. Louis, MO, USA.
Micro/nano-layered film/foam structures: A novel approach to passive cooling building materials.
ANTEC 2023, Society of Plastics Engineers, Denver, CO, USA.
Micro/nano-layer structured foams with tunable foam morphology and properties.
PPS-37, 37th International Conference of the Polymer Processing Society, Fukuoka, Japan, 2022.
High thermal insulation structures using micro-/nano-layered film/foam technology.

Patents

A movable-block variable-differentiation-cross section extrusion die for preparing micro-nano structures. CN110253856A
A method for generating foamed microcapillary films with a dual network of interconnected pores and internal channels. PCT/CN2019/096518