We use functional materials to build structures and functionalities at micro/nano-scale.

We investigate material transformation, and light-matter interaction during manufacturing.

We enable practical applications through materials and manufacturing.

 Selected publications:

1. Shou, W., et al., 2017. Low‐cost manufacturing of bioresorbable conductors by evaporation–condensation‐mediated laser printing and sintering of Zn nanoparticles. Advanced Materials, 29(26), p.1700172.

2. Shou, W. and Pan, H., 2016. Direct printing of microstructures by femtosecond laser excitation of nanocrystals in solution. Applied Physics Letters, 108(21).

3. Podder, C., Gong, X., Yu, X., Shou, W. and Pan, H., 2021. Submicron Metal 3D Printing by Ultrafast Laser Heating and Induced Ligand Transformation of Nanocrystals. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 13(35), pp.42154-42163.

4. Shou, W., et al., 2019. Feasibility Study of Single-Crystal Si Island Manufacturing by Microscale Printing of Nanoparticles and Laser Crystallization. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 11(37), pp.34416-34423.

5. Liang, Y., Shou, W., 2026. Molecular dynamics simulation of silicon nanoparticle crystallization during laser-induced forward transfer printing. AIP Advances, 16(4).  

6. McCallum, C., Liang, Y., Tushar, N., Xu, B., Zhao, B., Zeng, H., Shou, W., 2026. Additive manufacturing of lunar regolith for reconfigurable building blocks toward lunar habitation. npj Advanced Manufacturing.  

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We leverage robots and customized print modules to enable dexterous manufacturing. We also use advanced manufacturing techniques to fabricate robots and robotic components.

Selected publications:

1. Shou, W., et al., 2019. Parametric study of an automated nanoparticles spray process for nanofibers/fabric reinforced composites. Polymer Composites, 40(3), pp.1068-1077.

2. Tushar, N., Wu., R., She, Y., Zhou, W., Shou*, W., Desktop-Scale Robot Tape Manipulation for Additive Manufacturing, Device, 2024.

3. Cai, Y., Xu, H., Wang, Y., Chen, D., Matusik, W., Shou, W., Chen, Y., Modular Self-Reconfigurable Continuum Robot for General Purpose Loco-Manipulation. IEEE RAL, 2025.

4. Xu, Z., Uppuluri, R., Zhang, X., Fitch, C., Crandall, P.G., Shou, W., Wang, D. and She, Y., 2025. UniT: Data Efficient Tactile Representation with Generalization to Unseen Objects. IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 2025.

5. Yang, J.,  Pi, H., Deng, Z., Guo, H., Shou, W., Zhang, H., Zeng, H., Feedback Regulated Opto-Mechanical Soft Robotic Actuators, Cell Reports Physical Science, 102686, 2025 

6. Wu#, R., Tushar#, N., Hyden, Z., Shou, W., Sha, Z., Zhou, W., Heterogeneous Swarm Manufacturing, The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, 2026.

7. Yang, Q., Zhou, B., Chand, R., Huynh, D., Korai, FA., Yang, J., Shou, W., Viola I., Li, D., Zeng, H., 2026. Biohybrid chiral materials for an ultralight reconfigurable flying robot. Science Advances. 

8. Composite 3D printing, in submission.  

9. Robotic hand, in preparation.  ​

We engineered polymers with controllable patterns/structures/materials using 3D printing. We are pushing the scale down to molecule level with novel manufacturing techniques.

Selected publications:

1. Li, B., Deng, B., Shou*, W., Oh, T.H., Hu, Y., Luo, Y., Shi, L. and Matusik*, W., 2024. Computational Discovery of Microstructured Composites with Optimal Stiffness-Toughness Trade-Offs. Science Advances,10(5), p.eadk4284.

2. Gongora, A.E., Mysore, S., Li, B., Shou, W., Matusik, W., Morgan, E.F., Brown, K.A. and Whiting, E., 2021, October. Designing composites with target effective young’s modulus using reinforcement learning. In Proceedings of the 6th Annual ACM Symposium on Computational Fabrication (pp. 1-11).

3. Xu, X., Wang, C., Shou, W., Du, Z., Chen, Y., Li, B., Matusik, W., Hussein, N. and Huang, G., 2020. Physical realization of elastic cloaking with a polar material. Physical Review Letters, 124(11), p.114301.

4. Yu, Y., Chen, J., Tushar, N., Shou, W., Xu, X. and Huang, G., 2025. Compact multifunctional slit-type Helmholtz silencer for broadband sound attenuation with ventilation. Applied Physics Letters, 127(16).

5. Metamaterials, in preparation.

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We design and synthesize polymers for AM and engineering applications. The framework is not limited to polymers.

Selected publications:

1. Shou, W., Chao, B., Ahmad, Z.U. and Gang, D.D., 2016. Ordered mesoporous carbon preparation by the in situ radical polymerization of acrylamide and its application for resorcinol removal. Journal of Applied Polymer Science, 133(19).

2. Erps, T., Foshey*, M., Luković, M.K., Shou*, W., Goetzke, H.H., Dietsch, H., Stoll, K., von Vacano, B. and Matusik, W., 2021. Accelerated discovery of 3D printing materials using data-driven multiobjective optimization. Science Advances, 7(42), p.eabf7435.

3. Guo, M., Shou, W., Makatura, L., Erps, T., Foshey, M. and Matusik, W., 2022. Polygrammar: grammar for digital polymer representation and generation. Advanced Science, 9(23), p.2101864.

4. Park, S., Shou*, W., Makatura, L., Matusik, W. and Fu*, K.K., 2022. 3D printing of polymer composites: Materials, processes, and applications. Matter, 5(1), pp.43-76.

5. Lei, T., ..., Shou*, W., Fan*, J., A multifunctional flexible wearable hydrogel sensor with anti-swelling via supramolecular interactions for underwater motion detection and information transmission, Chemical Engineering Journal, 2024.

6. Autonomous materials discovery, in preparation.

We create new forms and functionalities of fibers with advanced materials and manufacturing techniques.

Selected publications:

1. Pan, T.D., Li, Z.J., Shou, D.H., Shou*, W., Fan, J.T., Liu, X. and Liu, Y., 2019. Buoyancy Assisted Janus Membrane Preparation by ZnO Interfacial Deposition for Water Pollution Treatment and Self‐cleaning. Advanced Materials Interfaces, 6(21), p.1901130.

2. Li, Y., et al., Shou*, W., Fan*, J., Scalable Fabric‐Based Solar Steam Generator, Advanced Functional Materials, 2024, p.2312613.

3. Luo, Y., Li, Y., Sharma, P., Shou*, W., Wu, K., Foshey, M., Li, B., Palacios, T., Torralba, A. and Matusik, W., 2021. Learning human–environment interactions using conformal tactile textiles. Nature Electronics, 4(3), pp.193-201.

4. Lei, T., ..., Shou*, W. and Fan*, J., 2026. Multifunctional conductive hydrogel fibers with high stretchability, anti-freezing, and anti-swelling for wearable strain sensors and deep learning-assisted sign language recognition. Chemical Engineering Journal, p.179296.

5. Fiber robot, in preparation.

We develop materials and manufacturing techniques to make affordable sensors.

Selected publications:

1. Luo, Y., Li, Y., Sharma, P., Shou*, W., Wu, K., Foshey, M., Li, B., Palacios, T., Torralba, A. and Matusik, W., 2021. Learning human–environment interactions using conformal tactile textiles. Nature Electronics, 4(3), pp.193-201.

2. Sun, Y., Liu, Y., Zheng, Y., Li, Z., Fan, J., Wang, L., Liu, X., Liu, J. and Shou*, W., 2020. Enhanced energy harvesting ability of ZnO/PAN hybrid piezoelectric nanogenerators. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 12(49), pp.54936-54945.

3. Shou, W., et al., 2017. Low‐cost manufacturing of bioresorbable conductors by evaporation–condensation‐mediated laser printing and sintering of Zn nanoparticles. Advanced Materials, 29(26), p.1700172.

4. Liang, Y., Tushar, N., et al., Shou, W., 2026. Laser micro-patterning of Al electrodes for low-cost tactile sensor arrays. Under review.  

5. Ultrasensitive sensor, in preparation