News

RI-IWEAR Member's Publication was Selected as The Inside Front Cover Article in Advanced Functional Materials

Developing conductive underwater glue for fast sealing and in situ monitoring is critical for ocean exploration yet remains a challenge. The fluidity of glue is a double-edged sword that is favorable for molecule spreading and formation of interlocking bonding network yet also leads to leakage of conductive ions. Dr Jimin FU, member of RI-IWEAR, and collaborators (Si Yu Zheng, Jintao Yang, and etc.) design a polymeric glue based on triazole-beared macromolecules and ionic liquids, which is possessing good conductivity and exhibiting rapid, strong, and long-lasting underwater adhesion on diverse substrates at various harsh environments and extreme temperatures. Furthermore, the glue possesses additional functions of underwater sensing and fluorescent labeling, which exhibits great potentials in underwater repair and follow-up crack monitoring. In molecular design, the nitrogen heterocyclic motif that prevails in biomolecular recognition is encoded with water-resistant benzene block in one pendant group to serve as underwater binding sites; ionic liquids (ILs) of [EMIM][BF4] is employed as the solvent for fast water exchange that triggers rapid adhesion. Simultaneously, the polymer-IL interaction is regulated, with the assistance of the theoretical calculations, to retain sufficient ILs within the adhesive for sensing. Finally, the glue is applied for underwater sealing and in situ monitoring various physical signals, while the fluorescent property is utilized for underwater labeling. This study should provide a new design strategy for the next-generation of multifunctional underwater adhesives and promote their applications. This research was published in Advanced Functional Materials and selected as the inside front cover article.

RI-IWEAR Scholars Ranked Amongst the World’s Top 2% Scientists (2022)

Seventeen RI-IWEAR members were recognised as the top 2% of scientists in the world in the year 2021. The report was released by a team of experts led by Prof. John Ioannidis of Stanford University and the latest version was published on 10 October 2022. Scientists are classified into 22 scientific fields and 176 sub-fields. This ranking identifies the top scholars in their speciality whose publications are most frequently cited by other authors for career-long and updated to end-of-2021. The publicly available database of over 100,000 top scientists provides standardised information on citations, h-index, co-authorship adjusted hm-index, citations to papers in different authorship positions, and a composite indicator. The report can be downloaded from Elsevier. Congratulations to our colleagues on their high ranking and impact in 2021! This recognition demonstrates RI-IWEAR’s influence in multiple disciplines and signifies our dedication to conducting world-class research in wearable technology. RI-IWEAR's Top 2% Scientists in the Global List  Name (by alphabetical order of surname)  Subject Field  Prof. Jiannong CAO  Networking & Telecommunications  Prof. Yang CHAI  Nanoscience & Nanotechnology  Prof. Wei CHEN  Nanoscience & Nanotechnology  Prof. Li CHENG  Acoustics  Prof. Jintu FAN  Polymers  Prof. Hong HU  Materials  Dr Bolong HUANG  Nanoscience & Nanotechnology  Prof. Gang LI  Nanoscience & Nanotechnology  Prof. Heng LI  Building & Construction  Dr Dahua SHOU  Materials  Prof. Defeng SUN  Operations Research  Prof. Xiaoming TAO  Materials  Prof. Wai-Yeung Raymond WONG  Inorganic & Nuclear Chemistry  Prof. John H. XIN  Polymers  Prof. Bingang XU  Materials  Prof. Feng YAN  Nanoscience & Nanotechnology  Prof. Yongping ZHENG  Biomedical Engineering

Dr Qiyao HUANG Obtained the NSFC’s Young Scientists Fund 2022

Congratulations to Dr Qiyao HUANG, a member of RI-IWEAR, who are among the 39 awardees at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University to have received the National Natural Science Foundation of China’s (NSFC) Young Scientists Fund 2022 for her project “Customized Fiber Placement Woven Flexible Energy Storage Fabric and its Structure and Properties”. The NSFC Young Scientists Fund supports young scholars to conduct scientific research on topics of their choice, strengthening their ability to research independently and creatively. This is the first time the Fund is open to researchers in Hong Kong. Each awardee will be granted RMB 300,000 to work on the proposed project for a period of three years. The list of awarded PolyU scholars and research projects . The 39 awarded PolyU scholars and research projects ( Chinese only )

Visit of Esquel Center of Innovation & Technology Team

A group of 5 members from the Esquel Center of Innovation & Technology team visited RI-IWEAR for seeking the opportunity for collaboration in wearable technology development on 22nd Sept 2022. They are Group Director, Mr. Herman CHAN, Director, Mr. Lam CHUNG, Senior Manager, Mr. Murphy NG, and Manager Ms, Natasha CHENG, and Mr, Ben LEUNG. Esquel Group is a knowledge-based innovation company that would push for positive change in the textile and apparel business and expanding into new territory.   By this opportunity, Prof. Xiaoming TAO, Prof. Feng YAN, Prof. Kinor Jiang, Prof. Lilly Li, and their research teams introduced the mature technologies in the intelligent wearable field. They are related to the energy supplied to wearable systems, manufacturing technology of wearable electronics, and wearable systems for healthy, sports, visual design, and other functional applications.

Gigantic Effect Due to Phase Transition on Thermoelectric Properties of Ionic Sol-gel Materials

Sol-gel phase transition in ionic thermoelectrical (i-TE) materials induced large rapid change in viscosity and ionic transport process thus it was expected to give a drastic variation in thermoelectric properties, crucial in low-grade waste heat harvesting for Internet of thing (IoT) and wearable electronic applications. Prof. Xiaoming TAO’s research team prepared and examined four types of ionic thermoelectric materials featured with non-phase-transition, thermal sol-to-gel phase-transition, thermal gel-to-sol phase-transition and UV-induced sol-to-gel phase-transition, which was recently published in Advanced Functional Materials. For the first time, a large rise of the thermopower was observed by 6.5 times during the sol-gel transition of poloxamer/LiCl system, an even greater ionic figure of merit by around 23 times. The phenomenon was found to be universal as the large variation in thermopower was confirmed in the other thermal gel-sol transitional and UV induced transitional materials. In addition, the mechanism and proposed a model was further revealed that dealt with the pre-, post- and during- phase-transition processes. Finally, six factors were probed influencing the huge variation of the thermopower during the phase-transition and shed light on the possible gigantic changes of thermopower during the phase transition. A possible route to design and control the desired TE performances of materials was uncovered, which can lead to a new sight in tunable i-TE devices for low-heat energy harvesting applications.

Cooperation Opportunities with My Heart Bodibra

Ms. Linda ZHENG, Mr. Yi ZHOU, Operation Director and Customer Service Director of My Heart Bodibra Limited, a subsidiary of Ocean Star Technology Group Limited, and Mr. Franky WONG, CEO of YELLO sport marketing agency visited RI-IWEAR for learning about the latest trend of the textile technologies on 9th Sept 2022. My Heart Bodibra Limited is a company that designs, develops, and produces women's apparel. This visit was arranged with the help of Ms. Gloria LEUNG, Head of Projects from Proactive Think Tank.   Prof. Xiaoming TAO, Prof. Jintu FAN, Prof. Hong HU, Prof. Lilly LI, and Dr Dahua SHOU showed the recent research outputs which could be applied to the areas of underwear and sportswear. Ms. ZHENG shared her views on the needs of materials, especially materials' lifetime for the product inventory, and expressed the intention for the Business-School Partnership. 

Prof. Xiaoming TAO Attended the PolyU InnoTech Open Day and Gave a Talk at the Research & Innovation Breakout Sessions

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) held the PolyU InnoTech Open Day in 16 July 2022 to showcase the University’s latest endeavours in education, interdisciplinary research, knowledge transfer and entrepreneurship which were helping to empower the innovation and technology (I&T) development of Hong Kong, the Greater Bay Area (GBA) and beyond. Prof. Xiaoming TAO, Director of RI-IWEAR, attended the Opening Ceremony also marked the inauguration of the PolyU Academy for Interdisciplinary Research (PAIR). PAIR is the largest research platform of its kind in Hong Kong and the GBA to foster interdisciplinary research, partnership with world-renowned scholars, and the transfer of technologies to stakeholders. Prof. Xiaoming TAO, Prof. Bingang XU, and Dr Tao HUA, as one of the 10 winning teams of the President’s Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Knowledge Transfer (KT), were also presented with the awards at the ceremony. The President’s Awards for Outstanding Achievement in KT recognises impactful projects demonstrated contributions in advancing technological or industry standards through application of PolyU’s research and innovations (for more information of the technology, please visit https://polyu.hk/vnLjb). In addition to the Opening Ceremony, a series of activities were held throughout the day, providing visitors with an excellent opportunity to learn more about PolyU’s contributions to I&T, as well as to explore academic, entrepreneurial and collaboration opportunities. The Research & Innovation breakout sessions featured novel and frontier topics related to life sciences, smart cities, neurohealth, future society, energy technology for carbon-neutrality, healthy food and lifestyle management, future manufacturing, artificial intelligence of things and intelligent wearable systems. These sessions served as a platform for industry practitioners and PolyU expert researchers to exchange views on technology innovation and development, collaboration, industry trends and applications. Prof. TAO gave a talk at the session of artificial intelligence of things and intelligent wearable systems. Please click here for more details. 

RI-IWEAR Members Obtained The President’s Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Knowledge Transfer 2021

Further to the invitation of nominations in February 2021 and the subsequent assessment processes for the captioned, Prof. Xiaoming TAO, director of RI-IWEAR, and Prof. Bingang XU and Dr Tao HUA, two of RI-IWEAR members’ research Yarn-spinning Technology Revolution: Nu-TorquTM have obtained The President’s Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Knowledge Transfer 2021: Industry. A total of five teams was awarded this prize.   Nu-Torque is a revolutionary yarn-spinning technology that uses physical means to create yarns with lower torque and twist while achieving the same strength as conventionally spun yarns. Fabrics made with Nu-Torque yarns are less prone to deformation even after repeatedly washed, while also feel softer, look shinier and with less hairiness. Compared with conventional yarn-spinning technology, Nu-Torque also improves productivity, saves energy and reduces pollutions. Fabrics and garments made with Nu-Torque yarns are widely sold in the U.S., Europe, Japan and China.   Congratulation to our colleagues for the work on knowledge transfer.

International Conference on Intelligent Wearable Systems 2022 held successfully

International Conference on Intelligent Wearable Systems 2022 (ICIWS 2022), a three-day conference, was successfully completed on Jun 29, 2022. The conference was organized by the Research Institute for Intelligent Wearable Systems (RI-IWEAR) of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU).   The conference included four sessions: MATERIALS, DEVICES AND PROCESSING SENSORS, ACTUATORS AND BIOELECTRONICS ENERGY HARVESTING AND STORAGE SYSTEM INTEGRATION AND EMERGING APPLICATIONS   The conference invited 29 experts to share their experiences in the fundamental research and applications of flexible materials, sensors, energy devices, integration of wearable electronic systems and their applications. It attracted over 1778 people registered online for the conference, from 21 countries and regions, including China, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Israel, US, Canada, UK, Germany, and Spain. etc. Among the registered participants, 85 came from companies, 53 from research institutes, and the rest from universities. The conference was also broadcasted simultaneously via a number of social media, including YouTube, Bilibili, Weibo, and WeChat. According to the statistics provided by social media, for the three days of the conference, a total of over 110,000 views were registered.

Intelligent wearable system with accurate detection of abnormal gait and timely cueing for mobility enhancement of people with Parkinson’s disease

The entire world, approximately ten million people have Parkinson’s disease (PD), which is the second most popular neurodegenerative disease. The most distinct symptoms of PD are movement ("motor") related. Previously reported wearable systems for people with Parkinson’s disease (PD) have been focused on the detection of abnormal gait. They suffered from limited accuracy, large latency, poor durability, comfort, and convenience for daily use. Herewith an intelligent wearable system (IWS) was interdisciplinary research by Prof. Xiaoming TAO and Prof. Margaret Mak, which can accurately detect abnormal gait in real-time and provide timely cueing for PD patients. The system features novel sensitive, comfortable and durable plantar pressure sensing insoles with a highly compressed data set, an accurate and fast gait algorithm, and wirelessly controlled timely sensory cueing devices. A total of 29 PD patients participated in the first phase without cueing for developing processes of the algorithm, which achieved an accuracy of over 97% for off-line detection of freezing of gait (FoG). In the second phase with cueing, the evaluation of the whole system was conducted with 16 PD subjects via trial and a questionnaire survey. This system demonstrated an accuracy of 94% for real-time detection of FoG and a mean latency of 0.37 s between the onset of FoG and cueing activation. In the questionnaire survey, 88% of the PD participants confirmed that this wearable system could effectively enhance walking, 81% thought that the system was comfortable and convenient, and 70% overcame the FoG. Therefore, the IWS makes it an effective, powerful, and convenient tool for enhancing the mobility of people with PD. The research was recently published in Wearable Technologies.