Cunjiang Yu

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Education

• 2010, Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, Arizona State University, USA
• 2007, M.S., Electronic Engineering, Southeast University, China
• 2004, B.S., Mechanical Engineering, Southeast University, China

Academic Positions

• 2024-present, Founder Professor, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering (Joint), Department of Materials Science and Engineering (Joint), Department of Bioengineering (Joint), Beckman Institute for Science and Technology (Part time faculty), Materials Research Laboratory, Holonyak Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory

Research Interests

• Soft Electronics (flexible/stretchable)
• Bioelectronics and Biosensors
• Organic Electronics
• Robotic Interfaces
• Semiconductor Electronic Devices
• Micro/Nano/Additive Manufacturing

Selected Articles in Journals

• Haejin Kim, Kyoseung Sim, Anish Thukral, and Cunjiang Yu*, Rubbery Electronics and Sensors from Intrinsically Stretchable Elastomeric Composites of Semiconductors and Conductors, Science Advances, 3, e701114, 2017.
• Yang Gao†, Ying Zhang†, Xu Wang†, Kyoseung Sim†, Jingshen Liu, Xue Feng, Ji Chen, Hangxun Xu*, and Cunjiang Yu*, Moisture Triggered Physically Transient Electronics, Science Advances, 3, e1701222, 2017.
• Chengjun Wang † , Kyoseung Sim † , Jin Chen, Hojin Kim, Zhoulyu Rao, Yuhang Li, Weiqiu Chen, Jizhou Song, Rafael Verduzco, and Cunjiang Yu*, Soft Ultrathin Electronics Innervated Adaptive Fully Soft Robots, Advanced Materials, 30, 1706695, 2018.
• Kyoseung Sim, Zhoulyu Rao, Hae-Jin Kim, Anish Thukral, Hyunseok Shim, and Cunjiang Yu*, Fully rubbery integrated electronics from high effective mobility intrinsically stretchable semiconductors, Science Advances, 5, eaav5749, 2019.
• Kyoseung Sim, Zhoulyu Rao, Zhanan zhou, Faheem Ershad, Jianming Lei, Anish Thukral, Jie Chen, Qing-An Huang, Jianliang Xiao, and Cunjiang Yu*, Metal oxide semiconductor nanomembrane based soft unnoticeable multifunctional electronics for wearable human-machine interfaces, Science Advances, 5, eaav9653, 2019.
• Hyunseok Shim, Kyoseung Sim, Faheem Ershad, Pinyi Yang, Anish Thukral, Zhoulyu Rao, Haejin Kim, Yanghui Liu, Xu Wang, Guoying Gu, Li Gao, Xinran Wang, Yang Chai, and Cunjiang Yu*, Stretchable elastic synaptic transistors and neurologically integrated engineering systems, Science Advances, 5, eaax4691, 2019.
• Kyoseung Sim, Song Chen, Zhengwei Li, Zhoulyu Rao, Jingshen Liu, Yuntao Lu, Seonmin Jang, Faheem Ershad, Ji Chen, Jianliang Xiao, and Cunjiang Yu*, Three-dimensional curvy electronics created using conformal additive stamp printing, Nature Electronics, 2, 471-479, 2019.
• Binghao Wang†, Anish Thukral†, Zhaoqian Xie, Limei Liu, Xinan Zhang, Wei Huang, Xinge Yu*, Cunjiang Yu*, Tobin J Marks*, and Antonio Facchetti*, Flexible and stretchable metal-oxide nanofiber networks for multimodal and monolithically integrated wearable electronics, Nature Communications, 11, 2405, 2020.
• Faheem Ershad, Anish Thukral, Jiping Yue, Phillip Comeaux, Yuntao Lu, Hyunseok Shim, Kyoseung Sim, Nam-In Kim, Zhoulyu Rao, Ross Guevara, Luis Contreras, Fengjiao Pan, Yongcao Zhang, Ying-Shi Guan, Pinyi Yang, Xu Wang, Peng Wang, Xiaoyang Wu, and Cunjiang Yu*, Ultra-Conformal Drawn-on-Skin Electronics for Multifunctional Motion Artifact-Free Sensing and Point-of-Care Treatment, Nature Communications, 11, 3823, 2020.
• Yingshi Guan, Anish Thukral, Shun Zhang, Kyoseung Sim, Xu Wang, Yongcao Zhang, Faheem Ershad, Zhoulyu Rao, Fengjiao Pan, Peng Wang, Jianliang Xiao, and Cunjiang Yu*, Air/water interfacial assembled rubbery semiconducting nanofilm for fully rubbery integrated electronics, Science Advances, 6, eabb3656, 2020.
• Kyoseung Sim†, Faheem Ershad†, Yongcao Zhang†, Pinyi Yang, Hyunseok Shim, Zhoulyu Rao, Yuntao Lu, Anish Thukral, Abdelmotagaly Elgalad, Yutao Xi, Bozhi Tian, Doris A. Taylor, and Cunjiang Yu*, An epicardial bioelectronic patch made from soft rubbery materials and capable of spatiotemporal mapping of electrophysiological activity, Nature Electronics, 3, 775-784, 2020.
• Hongwei Sheng†, Jingjing Zhou†, Bo Li, Yuhang He, Xuetao Zhang, Jie Liang, Jinyuan Zhou, Qing Su, Erqing Xie, Wei Lan*, Kairong Wang*, Cunjiang Yu*, A thin, deformable, high performance supercapacitor implant that can be biodegraded and bioabsorbed within an animal body, Science Advances, 7, eabe3097, 2021.
• Zhoulyu Rao†, Yuntao Lu†, Zhengwei Li, Kyoseung Sim, Zhenqiang Ma, Jianliang Xiao, and Cunjiang Yu*, Curvy, shape-adaptive imagers based on printed optoelectronic pixels with a kirigami design, Nature Electronics, 4, 513-521, 2021.
• Hyunseok Shim, Seonmin Jang, Anish Thukral, Seongsik Jeong, Jo Hyeseon, Bin Kan, Shubham Patel, Guodan Wei, Wei Lan, Hae-Jin Kim*, and Cunjiang Yu*, Artificial neuromorphic cognitive skins based on distributed biaxially stretchable elastomeric synaptic transistors, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 119(23), e2204852119, 2022.
• Hyunseok Shim, Faheem Ershad, Shubham Patel, Yongcao Zhang, Binghao Wang, Zhihua Chen, Tobin J Marks, Antonio Facchetti, and Cunjiang Yu*, An elastic, reconfigurable synaptic transistor based on a stretchable bilayer semiconductor, Nature Electronics, 5, 660-671, 2022.
• Ying-Shi Guan, Faheem Ershad, Zhoulyu Rao, Zhifan Ke, Ernesto Curty da Costa, Qian Xiang, Yuntao Lu, Xu Wang, Jianguo Mei, Peter Vanderslice, Camila Hochman-Mendez, and Cunjiang Yu*, Elastic electronics based on micromesh-structured rubbery semiconductor films, Nature Electronics, 5, 881-892, 2022.
• Seonmin Jang, Hyunseok Shim, and Cunjiang Yu*, Fully rubbery Schottky diode and integrated devices, Science Advances, 8, eade428, 2022.
• Qingyang Zhang, Mengxin Xu, Liming Zhou, Shihao Liu, Wei Wang, Letian Zhang, Wenfa Xie*, and Cunjiang Yu*, A flexible organic mechanoluminophore device, Nature Communications, 14, 1257, 2023.
• Zhenghao Long, Xiao Qiu, Chak Lam Jonathan Chan, Zhibo Sun, Zhengnan Yuan, Swapnadeep Poddar, Yuting Zhang, Yucheng Ding, Leilei Gu, Yu Zhou, Wenying Tang, Abhishek Kumar Srivastava, Cunjiang Yu, Xuming Zou, Guozhen Shen, and Zhiyong Fan, A neuromorphic bionic eye with filter-free color vision using hemispherical perovskite nanowire array retina, Nature Communications, 14, 1972, 2023.
• Junli Shi, Yuan Dai, Yu Cheng, Sai Xie, Gang Li, Yuan Liu, Jingxiao Wang, Ruirui Zhang, Ningning Bai, Minkun Cai, Yuan Zhang, Yifei Zhan, Zhengyou Zhang, Cunjiang Yu, and Chuan Fei Guo, Embedment of sensing elements for robust, highly sensitive, and crosstalk-free iontronic skins for robotics applications, Science Advances, 9, eadf8831, 2023.
• Youdi Liu, Faheem Ershad, Yifan Tao and Cunjiang Yu*, Better electronics from immiscibility, Nature Materials, 22, 801, 2023.
• Faheem Ershad, Wenjing Song, and Cunjiang Yu*, Hand-drawing perovskite devices, Nature Photonics, 17, 928, 2023.
• Hongwei Sheng, Li Jiang, Qi Wang, Zongwen Liu, Yurong Lv, Hongyun Ma, Huasheng Bi, Jiao Yuan, Mingjiao Shao, Fengfeng Li, Wenquan Li, Erqing Xie, Youdi Liu, Zhaoqian Xie, Jing Wang*, Cunjiang Yu*, and Wei Lan*, A soft implantable energy supply system that integrates wireless charging and biodegradable Zn-ion hybrid supercapacitors, Science Advances, 9, eadh8083, 2023.
• Han Wu, Yuqiong Wang, Hu Li, Yongyan Hu, Youdi Liu, Xinran Jiang, Hong Sun, Feng Liu, Ao Xiao, Tianrui Chang, Long Lin, Kuan Yang, Zhiying Wang, Zaizai Dong, Yuhang Li, Shaotong Dong, Siqi Wang, Jie Chen, Yilin Liu, Dedong Yin, Haodong Zhang, Ming Liu, Shenshen Kong, Zhuoqin Yang, Xinge Yu, Yi Wang, Liu Wang*, Cunjiang Yu*, Lingqian Chang*, Accelerated intestinal wound healing via dual electrostimulation from a soft and biodegradable electronic bandage, Nature Electronics, 7, 299-312, 2024.
• Zhoulyu Rao, Faheem Ershad, Yingshi Guan, Fernanda C. Paccola Mesquita, Ernesto Curty da Costa, Marco A Morales-Garza, Angel Moctezuma-Ramirez, Bin Kan, Yuntao Lu, Shubham Patel, Hyunseok Shim, Kuan Cheng, Wenjie Wu, Tahir Haideri, Xiaojun Lance Lian, Alamgir Karim, Jian Yang, Abdelmotagaly Elgalad, Camila Hochman-Mendez, and Cunjiang Yu*, Ultra-thin rubbery bio-optoelectronic stimulators for untethered cardiac stimulation, Science Advances, 10, eadq5061, 2024.
• Jiaqi Liu, Chengpeng Jiang, Qianbo Yu, Yao Ni, Cunjiang Yu*, Wentao Xu*, Multidimensional Free Shape-Morphing Flexible Neuromorphic Devices with Regulation at Arbitrary Points, Nature Communications, 16, 756, 2025.
• Seongchan Kim, Ohchan Kwon, Seonkwon Kim, Seonmin Jang, Seungho Yu, Choong Hoo Lee, Yoon Young Choi, Soo Young Cho, Ki Chul Kim, Cunjiang Yu*, Dae Woo Kim*, Jeong Ho Cho*, Modulating synaptic plasticity with metal−organic framework for information-filterable artificial retina, Nature Communications, 16, 162, 2025.
• Faheem Ershad, Zhoulyu Rao, Sushila Maharajan, Fernanda C. Paccola Mesquita, Junkyu Ha, Lei Gonzalez, Tahir Haideri, Ernesto Curty da Costa, Angel Moctezuma-Ramirez, Yuqi Wang, Seonmin Jang, Yuntao Lu, Shubham Patel, Xiaoyang Wang, Yifan Tao, Joshua Weygant, Carlos Ezio Garciamendez-Mijares, Luis Carlos Orrantia Clark, Muhammad Zubair, Xiaojun Lance Lian, Abdelmotagaly Elgalad, Jian Yang, Camila Hochman-Mendez, Yu Shrike Zhang*, and Cunjiang Yu*, Bioprinted optoelectronically active cardiac tissues, Science Advances, 11, eadt7210, 2025.
• Qiong Wang†, Ming Yang†, Renyuan Sun†, Wenliang Liu, Wenlong Li, Baochun Xu, Shiming Yang, Ke Chen, Jun Xiao, Xuyong Chen, Xinyao Meng, Jiexiong Feng*, Cunjiang Yu*, and Zhiqiang Luo*, A battery-free, chipless, A biodegradable capacitive-coupling neurostimulator for wireless electroceutical treatment of inflammatory bowel diseases, Science Advances, 2025, Accepted.
• Dedong Yin, Pan Wang, Yongcun Hao, Wei Yue, Xinran Jiang, Kuanming Yao, Yuqiong Wang, Jingkun Zhou, Long Lin, Xinxin Han, Zhoulyu Rao, Han Wu, Feng Liu, Ao Xiao, Zaizai Dong, Meng Wu, Chenjie Xu, Jiandong Huang, Honglong Chang, Yubo Fan, Xinge Yu*, Cunjiang Yu*, Lingqian Chang*, Mo Li*, A battery-free, chipless, soft nanofluidic intracellular delivery patch for internal organs, Nature, 642, 1051–1061, 2025.
• Yongcao Zhang, Kyoseung Sim, Hyunseok Shim, Faheem Ershad, Shubham Patel, Yingshi Guan, and Cunjiang Yu*,  Stretchable Complementary Integrated Electronics based on Elastic Dual-type Transistors, Science Advances, 11, eaea1867, 2025.
• Yuqiong Wang†, Lamei Du†, Han Wu†, Hu Li†, Jiaqi Liu†, Yongyan Hu†, Xinran Jiang, Dedong Yin, Yongcun Hao, Ao Xiao, Yawen Yang, Jingkun Zhou, Long Lin, Feng Chen, Denglin Ye, Yuhui He, Zhixiong Zhao, Baoyu Liu, Kuanming Yao, Xiaohong Wang, Xi Chen, Yihang Tong, Fuqi Yao, Kuan Yang, Hong Sun, Yanzhe Fu, Siqi Wang, Zhaocun Huang, Xinyi Chen, Hao Guo, Shenshen Kong, Shaohua Yang, Wenjing Song, Faheem Ershad, Yang Wang, Li Zhang, Qiuting Zhang, Hao Wu, Ning Li, Wei Rao, Jiebo Li, Li Yang, Xing Chen, Wei Mu, Xinge Yu*, Yubo Fan*, Cunjiang Yu*, Ye Xu*, and Lingqian Chang*,  An organ-conformal, kirigami-structured bioelectronic patch for precise intracellular delivery, Cell, 189, 1086-1107, 2026.    
• Ming Yang†, Wenliang Liu†, Ping Chen†, Zhuang Liu†, Renyuan Sun†, Baochun Xu, Qiong Wang, Bingqing Xue, Chuan Gao, Jiahui She, Chong Ma, Dingke Zhang, Zhikun Li, Nanxi Yi, Donghui Zhang, Jiexiong Feng, Cunjiang Yu*, Jie Wang*, and Zhiqiang Luo*, Injectable hydrogel bioelectrostimulator for wireless deep brain neuromodulation, Nature Communications, 2026. 
• Yuntao Lu, Zhoulyu Rao, Hyunseok Shim, Yongmin Song, Zhiyong Fan, Chuanfei Guo, and Cunjiang Yu*, A neuromorphic imager based on a cascaded optoelectronic synapse,  Nature Electronics, 9, 180-188, 2026.    

Journal Editorships

• Founding Editor: Soft Science, 2021-2024
• Associate Editor: Bioactive Materials, 2024-present
• Associate Editor: IEEE Transaction on Nanotechnology, 2019-present

Honors

• IEEE Nanotechnology Council Technical Achievement Award (2026)
• ASME Materials Division Centennial Mid-Career Award (2026)
• Med-X Young Investigator (2025)
• IEEE Nanotechnology Council Distinguished Lecturer (2024)
• ASME Chao and Trigger Young Manufacturing Engineer Award (2023)
• ASME Thomas J.R. Hughes Young Investigator Award (2023)
• ASME Fellow (2023)
• Young Investigator Medal Award, Society of Engineering Science (2021)
• NIH Trailblazer Award (2020)
• ONR Young Investigator Award (2018)
• MIT Technology Review 35 Top Innovators under age of 35 China (Inaugural) (2017)
• NSF CAREER Award (2016)