The spotlight is on Chung King-yan, Claire, a BA degree holder and recent PhD graduate of SFT. This Hong Konger recently published “Cottonseed-Derived Reusable Bio-Carbon Gel Ink for DIW Printing Soft Electronic Textiles” in Advanced Materials, a prestigious journal in the materials sciences with an impact factor of 26.8.
Claire began her academic journey as a dedicated undergraduate who majored in intimate apparel and activewear at SFT, where she graduated with first-class honours. She then pursued her PhD studies under the supervision of Prof. Xu Bingang and obtained her PhD degree in 2025. During her PhD studies, Claire was awarded SFT Outstanding Research Achievement Award 2024 (Research Postgraduate Students), and the overall quality of her PhD thesis was rated “excellent” by the Board of Examiners.
Throughout her academic journey, Claire has consistently pushed the boundaries of clothing innovation by incorporating electronic technology with wearable design principles. Her pioneering work focuses on wearable electronics and E-textiles, which explores the integration of clothing and electronic devices with multifunctional applications that range from health monitoring to energy harvesting and human-machine interaction.
Claire’s published work highlights her innovative approach to the direct ink writing (DIW) technique for textile electronics. Her research examines the development of reusable bio-carbon gel ink for DIW and a simple integration process of flexible electronics into textile fabric, thus realising significantly important properties and functionalities. The fabricated direct ink written e-textile system can be directly worn not only for motion sensing, self-powered pressure detection, and energy driving, but also realise artificial intelligence-empowered functionalities, including real-time signal recognition and robotic manipulation. By transforming clothing into next-generation electronic platforms, Claire envisions a future where garments are not just passive wearables but interactive, intelligent systems that enhance human capabilities and IoTs.
