News

PolyU Develops Efficient and Scalable Moisture-Electric Generators Made from Ionic Hydrogel

Finding simple and efficient green energy conversion technology is significant to achieve carbon neutrality and sustainable green energy development while satisfying the increased demand for electrical power. Moisture-electric generator (MEG), which is based on chemical energy from atmospheric moisture to generate electricity directly without causing pollutants and harmful gas emissions, is an emerging focus in the energy field.  Practical Green Power Source However, most MEGs suffer from intermittent electrical signals and low currents. In addition, the realisation of large-scale integration and practical applications is still a bottleneck in current research. Led by Prof Xiaoming Tao, Director of Research Institute for Intelligent Wearable Systems, a novel and efficient ionic hydrogel moisture-electric generator (IHMEG) is developed with versatile, flexible, lightweight and all-weather adaptable features.  The IHMEG operates stably in a wide range of environmental conditions from 10% to 85% relative humidity (RH) and from -24 to 60 °C temperature. This provides a promising green power source in Hong Kong, where most of the RH fluctuates from 40% to 90% around the year. Applicable Energy Source Thanks to the synergistic effect of notable moisture-absorption capability and fast ion transport capability in the ionic hydrogel network, a single IHMEG unit of 0.25 cm2 can continuously generate direct-current electricity with a constant open-circuit voltage of ≈0.8 V for over 1000 hours, a high short-current density of 0.24 mA cm−2, and power density of up to 35 µW cm−2.  Of great importance is that large-scale integration of IHMEG units can be readily accomplished to offer a device with a voltage up to 210 V, capable of directly driving numerous commercial electronics, including electronic calculators, energy watchbands, electronic ink screens and light-emitting-diode arrays. Also, the IHMEG power device is successfully employed to electroplate metal nickel (Ni) structures on the millimeter scale, which is a big advance and proves the practical application of scalable IHMEG with sufficient energy.  Moreover, the application of IHMEGs as a direct-circuit (DC) power source can be easily designed and fabricated by connecting multiple IHMEG units in serial, parallel fashion or combinations according to operating requirements. With the progress in spontaneous energy generation from ubiquitous moisture, the IHMEG device shows great potential to develop versatile, efficient, scalable and green power sources for self-powered IoT and wearable electronics systems. The research entitled “Ionic Hydrogel for Efficient and Scalable Moisture-Electric Generation” was published in Advanced Materials 2022, 34. The first author is a PhD graduate, Dr Su Yang.

PolyU awarded with 19 Projects by the Health and Medical Research Fund in 2020 Exercise

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University has received the funding support of the Health and Medical Research Fund (HMRF) in 2020 Exercise for 19 projects, with total amount of HK$19.26 million granted by the Health Bureau.  PolyU’s 19 awarded projects by the HMRH have demonstrated our strength in health and medical research and promotion of healthcare in the society. These awarded projects cover a wide spectrum of research areas including biomedical technology, rehabilitation sciences, nursing care and optometry and vision sciences.  In times of COVID 19, some researches address both physical and mental healthcare needs of individuals and the society for innovative solutions and better health supports. The research projects look into not only medical technology like development of e-therapy, or online therapy, in virtual reality exercise program for Type 2 Diabetes patients, but also public healthcare like telecare consultation support for improving post-acute stroke follow-up care. Professor Christopher CHAO, Vice President (Research and Innovation) of PolyU, said, “PolyU takes pride in our researchers to create, facilitate and support medical research and healthcare promotion. Our research projects aim to promote good health and enhance medical practices for improving population health and fostering medical advancement.” About HMRF  The Health and Medical Research Fund (HMRF) was established by the Health Bureau in 2011. It aims to build research capacity and to encourage, facilitate and support health and medical research to inform health policies, improve population health, strengthen the health system, enhance healthcare practices, advance standard and quality of care, and promote clinical excellence, through the generation and application of evidence-based scientific knowledge in health and medicine. Also, the HMRF provides support for health promotion projects in addition to health and medical research, research infrastructure and research capacity building initiatives.    List of 19 supported projects Faculty of Applied Science and Textiles Department Principal Investigator Project Title Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology Prof WONG Man Sau Study of the effects of soy exposure in early life on bone development and gut microbiota Dr POON Chui-Wa Christina Study of the use of Chinese herbal medicine Er Zhi Wan for management of osteosarcopenia Dr WONG Wing-leung An innovative strategy for multimodal photodynamic therapy targeting hypoxic-tumors with nuclear membrane permeable near infrared photosensitizers   Faculty of Engineering Department Principal Investigator Project Title Department of Biomedical Engineering Dr CHEUNG James Chung-wai Machine learning-based dysphagia screening in elderly hostels: A pilot study   Faculty of Health and Social Sciences Department Principal Investigator Project Title Department of Health Technology and Informatics Prof CAI Jing Individualized prediction of acute radiation esophagitis in lung cancer patients through domain adaptation in a hybrid prospective and retrospective study Dr CHENG King Yip, Kenneth Hepatocyte-specific inactivation of APPL2 as a therapeutic strategy against hypercholesterolemia and atherosclerosis: a proof-of-concept study Dr SIU Gilman Kit-hang Establishment of clinical workflow for rapid identification of pathogens and antimicrobial resistance from infected body fluids – Metagenomic vs targeted amplicon sequencing approach Department of Rehabilitation Sciences Prof CHEING Gladys Lai-ying An e-Therapist: An Interactive Immersive Virtual Reality Exercise Program for People with Type 2 Diabetes Dr CHAN Wayne Improving the assessment of physical performance in older adults with dementia Dr XU Huan Development and validation of a new scale to measure mental eHealth literacy School of Nursing Dr CHUNG Joyce Oi-kwan Needs assessment to guide the development of a paediatric survivorship programme in Hong Kong to promote physical and psychological wellbeing of children after cancer treatment Dr HO Ka-yan An integrated smoking cessation and alcohol intervention among Hong Kong Chinese young people: A feasibility randomized controlled trial Dr KOR Patrick Pui-kin Supporting family caregivers of people with dementia and identifying an effective adaptive intervention to reduce their depressive symptoms: a sequential multiple assignment randomized trial Dr WONG Arkers Kwan-ching Improving post-acute stroke follow-up care by adopting telecare consultations in a nurse-led clinic during COVID-19 and beyond: A hybrid type 2 implementation-effectiveness randomized trial Dr YEUNG Wing-fai Self-administered acupressure for depression: a randomized controlled trial School of Optometry Dr CHUN Ka Man Long-term choroidal response to optical defocus in myopic young adults Dr LIAN Jinxiao How well does the prediction performance of Hong Kong Risk Algorithm for diabetic retinopathy work after first-pass effect and in comparison to the current practice ? Dr SHAN Sze Wan Epigenetic regulation and glaucoma – the effect of DNA methylation inhibition of thrombospondin 1 on aqueous humor dynamics   Faculty of Humanities Department Principal Investigator Project Title Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies Dr KWONG Elaine Yee-lan The temporal profiles of swallowing events in healthy adults: a pilot study using ultrasound imaging

PolyU Holds Seminar on National Manned Space Programme with Experts Sharing

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) has successfully held the seminar on National Manner Space Programme, which is organised by Research and Innovation Office (RIO) to share and understand more about the nation’s space missions.  In-depth discussion and sharing were presented by our aerospace experts: Ir Prof YUNG Kai Leung, BBS, Director of Research Centre for Deep Space Explorations (RCDSE), Sir Sze-yuen Chung Professor in Precision Engineering, Chair Professor of Precision Engineering and Associate Head of Department of Industrial System Engineering Prof WU Bo, Associate Director of RCDSE and Associate Head (Research) of Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics Ir Prof Yung and Prof Wu shared their insights and experiences on the development of aerospace and aviation technologies with good and valuable interaction during the seminar which received active participation.  As the only tertiary institution in Hong Kong with international space exploration experience, PolyU has been actively promoting and conducting research for the development of aerospace technologies. Last year, PolyU established the “Research Centre for Deep Space Explorations” to further enhance research in aerospace innovations. Prof Christopher Chao, Vice President (Research and Innovation) of PolyU said “PolyU will fully support the country’s recruitment and encourage outstanding researchers who are committed to contribute to the National Manned Space Programme to come forward. Meanwhile, PolyU will continue to enhance its scientific research in different areas and proactively participate in the nation’s space missions.”

PolyU Students Won the Student Innovation Grand Award in Hong Kong ICT Awards 2022

PolyU students from the Research Group of AI for Industrial Digital Servitization (RAIDS) has achieved remarkable honor in the Hong Kong ICT Awards 2022 - Student Innovation Award, for outstanding information and communication technology (ICT) innovations. The PolyU team won the Gold Award in the “Tertiary or Above” stream. They also stood out from over 300 competitive teams to win the overall champion, the 2022 Student Innovation Grand Award. The Hong Kong ICT Awards 2022 - Student Innovation Award is a competition steered by the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer, and organised by Hong Kong New Emerging Technology Education Association. PolyU winning team’s project title named “Mutual Cognitive Human-Robot Collaborative Manufacturing System”. It aims to enhance the intelligence of industrial cobots (also known as collaborative robot) and industrial personnel with use of cognitive AI model and AR platform in a human-robot collaborative manner, moving towards futuristic human-centric smart manufacturing.  Ir Dr Zheng Pai, Assistant Professor of the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering and leader of RAIDS, was the supervisor. He sincerely encouraged the students, “We hope they will continue to pursue innovations and achieve great success in their future ventures.” Team members Mr Tsang Chin Lok MPhil student from the Department of Aeronautical and Aviation Engineering, who used to be an Interdepartmental FYP student under the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering. Mr Li Cheng Xi PhD student in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering. His PhD topic is related to robot learning, computer vision, augmented reality, and digital twins for futuristic human-robot collaborative manufacturing. Ms Kwok Hin Chi A third-year student of the BSc (Hons) in Enterprise Engineering with Management and Undergraduate Research and Innovation Scheme (URIS) holder in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering. The Student Innovation Award is one of the eight categories under the Hong Kong ICT Awards 2022. It provides a platform for local ICT talents to demonstrate their outstanding works and achievements in the ICT industry. It also aims to promote  development of local IT industry and to offer young people more opportunities in accessing and learning new technology with a broader horizon and creativity.

Thirty-nine PolyU research projects granted the NSFC’s Young Scientists Fund 2022, with PolyU ranking as the top recipient among local universities

Thirty-nine research projects led by young researchers at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) have been recognised by the National Natural Science Foundation of China’s (NSFC) Young Scientists Fund 2022 (the Fund), with PolyU ranking as the top grant recipient in terms of the number of projects awarded among local universities. The Fund has been expanded to allow researchers and universities in Hong Kong to apply for the first time. Each project will be granted funding of RMB 300,000 to support basic research work for three years. The awarded PolyU research projects cover a wide spectrum of topics, including environmental protection, green living environment, climate change, construction technology, and innovation in AI-assisted medical devices, fostering a better future for our changing living environment. Professor Christina WONG, Director of Research and Innovation at PolyU, said, “We are thankful for the support from the NSFC Young Scientists Fund for Hong Kong researchers, which will facilitate and strengthen our research projects and scientists’ development. With top-notch scholars and experts, PolyU is dedicated to conducting impactful research in interdisciplinary fields, making positive contributions to Hong Kong and the Nation’s technology and socioeconomic advancement.” Under the talent funding system of the NSFC, the Fund supports young researchers to freely choose their research topics within the funding scope of the NSFC to conduct basic research, fosters the ability of young scientists to independently undertake research projects and do creative research, stimulates the creative thinking of young scientists, and trains upcoming talents for basic research. This year, PolyU not only gained the leading position in the Young Scientists Fund, but also made good achievements in other funds and programmes from NSFC. The 39 awarded PolyU scholars and research projects ( Chinese only )

PolyU and NECHK Join Hands to Provide Interactive Social Robots for Older Adults and Caregivers

(6 October 2022) The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) announced today the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with NEC Hong Kong (NECHK) to provide intelligent interactive social robots for older adults and their caregivers. A series of research projects will also be carried out to investigate the effects of social robots on self-care and to encourage older adults’ proactive engagement in interpersonal activities to foster a physically and mentally healthy life.   In cooperation with NECHK, Prof. Angela Yee Man LEUNG Associate Head (Research) of the School of Nursing of PolyU, and her team from the School of Nursing have developed five social robots to provide companionship and support for the daily activities of senior adults. The team will use the robots to conduct a series of research projects titled "Social Robots for Old Adults and Caregivers".   Prof. Christopher CHAO Vice President (Research and Innovation) of PolyU, said, “PolyU is honoured to collaborate with NECHK, a leader in integrated IT and networking technologies that promote personal and community safety and improve quality of life. NECHK’s commitment is aligned with PolyU's ongoing endeavours to advance knowledge transfer and applied research to respond to societal needs. I believe that the collaboration between PolyU's School of Nursing and NECHK will provide innovative solutions for the ageing population and ageing-in-place trend.”   The first ongoing study is "The Presence of Humanoid Robots with Older Adults at Homes", which investigates whether older adults would accept and enjoy interacting with robots at home, and the preliminary effect of the robots on loneliness, cognition, medication adherence, and mental and social well-being. The AI robots in this study speak Cantonese for verbal interaction with older adults. Their key features are human-machine intelligent interactions, including older adults’ verbal instructions to the robots, such as turning on the TV news channel or music player, or making phone calls to their family members and friends. Furthermore, at a scheduled time, the robots could give a warm and gentle reminder to older adults for some defined activities such as taking medication and having meals.   Ms Elsa WONG, Managing Director of NECHK, said, “NEC Social Robots are developed for elderly care services, particularly the ‘Companion Robot’ for people with dementia to improve their social interaction and communication, which can also decrease the workload of caregivers. The robot can communicate interactively in Cantonese with human-like expressions, and it can also provide personalised settings for older adults with their personal preferences and usage habits, so as to provide humanised intelligent elderly care services.”   Prof. David SHUM, Dean of the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences of PolyU, said, “Hong Kong has the longest life expectancy in the world and is fast becoming a super-aged society. After they retire or their adult children leave home, many older adults tend to have less social contact and interaction, which can be detrimental to their physical and mental health in the long term. Thus, this new research collaboration between the School of Nursing and NECHK is a crucial step in investigating whether the use of technology in the form of social robots can help partially fill the gap of two-way interaction, which can also assist older adults in staying connected socially and maintaining good self-care.”   Ageing-in-place is well documented as the trend and solution for an ageing population. Prof. Leung believes that through the use of social robots, it will be possible to promote interpersonal communication and enhance the self-care ability of older adults living alone while helping them to engage with the outside world. With the support of such innovative technology, older adults will be able to live healthily and independently and integrate into the community.   The cooperation agreement was signed by Prof. Christopher Chao, Vice President (Research and Innovation) of PolyU and Ms Elsa Wong, Managing Director of NECHK.   School of Nursing The School of Nursing (SN) at PolyU is a diverse community of scholars and clinicians with a common goal: to pursue academic excellence of practical value in nursing and healthcare services. The research mission of SN is to advance evidence-based nursing practice for the optimal health and well-being of all people locally, nationally and internationally. SN conducts high-quality clinical and applied research in nursing and other health sciences, focusing on various topics such as ageing and health; family and community health; mental health care; and transitional, supportive and palliative care.   NEC Hong Kong（NECHK） NEC Hong Kong Limited, established in 1984, has been rapidly expanding its activities to meet growing customer demands in Hong Kong, Macau and mainland China. As a leading information and communications technology provider, NECHK provides innovative solutions and infrastructure for creating social values of safety, security, fairness and efficiency to promote a more sustainable world where everyone has the chance to reach their full potential.  

National Manned Space Programme Recruitment of Payload Specialists

The country announced the official launch of the recruitment of the fourth batch of astronauts and the recruitment of Payload Specialists in Hong Kong for the first time, giving Hong Kong citizens the opportunity to participate in the National Manned Space Programme. PolyU has played a crucial role for the fostering of aerospace talents and researchers. As the only tertiary institution in Hong Kong with international space exploration experience, PolyU is actively promoting and conducting research for the development of aerospace and aviation technologies. Prof. Christopher Chao, Vice President (Research and Innovation) of PolyU said “PolyU actively supports the country’s recruitment of the fourth batch of astronauts. We are recruiting suitable talents in the University to participate in this recruitment programme to contribute to the National Manned Space Programme.” For more: https://www.itib.gov.hk/en/psrecruitment/index.html  

Young Innovative Researcher Lecture Series - First Lecture

To encourage and nurture an innovative spirit within PolyU for scientific discoveries, the Research and Innovation Office (RIO) of PolyU organised the debut lecture of “Young Innovation Research Lecture Series” on 5 Oct 2022, supported by Prof. Qingyan CHEN, Director of PolyU Academy for Interdisciplinary Research (PAIR) and Chair Professor of Building Thermal Science and Dr. Daniel Xiapu LUO, Associate Professor of Department of Computing. This hybrid lecture had the pleasure to invite Prof. Chang Wen CHEN, Chair Professor of Department of Visual Computing to speak for the event and gathered outstanding young researchers including Prof. Qiang TANG and Prof. Chao ZHANG, awardees of MIT Technology Review "35 Innovators under 35" (TR35) China, along with Dr. Tommy Minchen WEI who was recognised by “PolyU Young Innovation Researcher Award”. The participants exchanged insights and ideas about bringing a profound impact on the future development of science and technology. Prof. Christopher CHAO, Vice President (Research and Innovation), spoken at the lecture, “The University has been giving staunch support to our young talented scholars to pursue research excellence. He cited “PolyU Young Innovation Researcher Award (YIRA)” which was launched for the first time last year as an example. “The award aims to honour young PolyU researchers under the age of 35 who have demonstrated innovative thinking, contributed to technology advancement and turned innovative ideas into solutions for social problems, bringing positive changes to the world,” Prof. CHAO said.

PolyU and Wuxi city government to set up pioneering research institute to drive innovation and technology development in Yangtze River Delta

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) and the city government of Wuxi, Jiangsu province, have reached an agreement to jointly set up the PolyU-Wuxi Technology and Innovation Research Institute – a pioneering move among Hong Kong’s tertiary institutions to establish a scientific research institute in Wuxi and participate in the Yangtze River Delta’s innovation and technology (I&T) drive. The new institute will foster I&T collaboration between government, industry, academia, and research institutions through the provision of an advanced research platform, a unique engineering doctorate programme, and incubation support backed by a robust local manufacturing sector. The PolyU-Wuxi collaboration will also contribute to the Nation’s I&T development.

PolyU Prof Jianhua Hao Secures Key Program Funding from the National Natural Science Foundation of China

The Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) announced the application results of the 2022 Exercise in September 2022. A PolyU’s research project titled “Multifunctional ultrathin ferroelectric integrated materials and devices towards neuromorphic computing and human visual system”, led by Prof Jianhua Hao, Chair Professor of Materials Physics and Devices in the Department of Applied Physics, has been successfully funded by the Key Program of NSFC. In this project, Prof Hao's team will collaborate with researchers from Nankai University and Sichuan Normal University to address the key scientific issue of achieving a multi-mode neuromorphic device. Artificial intelligence (AI) is the frontier field with significant societal impact, and AI chips are the key to developing intelligent systems and brain-like robots. Exploration of related new materials and devices is currently a hot spot and frontier of international scientific and technological focus. Ferroelectrics is a representative among smart materials, showing great potential in the field of brain-like devices. On the basis of Prof Hao's internationally recognised works regarding ferroelectric manipulation of rare-earth-doped luminescence and ferroelectric optoelectronics, the project is to effectively integrate ferroelectric polarisation with multifunctional characteristics of electronic properties of semiconductor, photodetection and rare-earth ion luminescence. The developed materials and devices in this project will provide potential solutions for overcoming the development bottleneck of information technology.  Based on the ultrathin ferroelectric films, the research team will construct multifunctional integrated materials and devices towards neuromorphic computing and artificial vision. The project will reveal the physical mechanism of rare-earth doping into ferroelectric ultrathin films and demonstrate a new concept of relevant devices used for logic operation, data processing and emulating the human visual system. The project will potentially break the barrier of neuromorphic computing restricted by the limited working mode through developing novel materials and devices.  The research achievement can provide a novel strategy for developing AI chips and processing complex visual information. Particularly, multi-mode neural networks possess remarkable capabilities, which are expected to have increased technological and societal demand. The neural network based on the proposed ferroelectric synaptic devices is capable of performing logical computations and image recognition with high accuracy.     Prof Hao is known internationally for his pioneering research on ferroelectric luminescence. As early as 2011, Prof Hao first introduced the concept of ferroelectric modulation to the field of rare-earth luminescence and provided experimental evidence, which has been verified by more than 100 research groups in at least 25 countries and extended to 9 kinds of rare-earth ion dopants to 40 ferroelectric material systems. In recent years, Prof Hao’s team has also achieved a series of original research results in piezoelectric and magnetic-induced luminescence. Primarily the term "Smart Phosphors" has been included in the “Phosphors Handbook”. Prof Hao and his team won the 2021 Natural Science Award in the Higher Education Outstanding Scientific Research Output Awards (Science & Technology) by the Ministry of Education, P. R. China. NSFC Key Program According to NSFC, the Key Program supports researchers engaged in basic research to conduct in-depth, systematic and innovative research in orientations with a sound research basis or where new growth points of scientific disciplines might emerge so as to promote disciplinary development and breakthroughs in important areas or scientific frontiers. Key Program projects should make effective use of existing major scientific research bases at national and ministerial levels and conduct substantive international cooperation and exchange.