PolyU wins Two “TechConnect Global Innovation Awards” — Snatching Accolades in the US Two Years in a row

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) brings glory to Hong Kong again by winning two “Global Innovation Awards” at TechConnect World Conference and Expo 2018 staged in the United States. It is the second year in a row that PolyU research teams snatch the accolades in the world’s largest multi-sector summit for accelerating development and commercialization of innovations. 

The two PolyU winning innovations are [please refer to Annex for project details]:-
• Composite multilayers capacitors with colossal permittivity for electronics and energy storage applications — Professor HAO Jianhua, Professor & Associate Head, and Ms TSE Mei-yan, Department of Applied Physics
• Low cost flame retardant treatment for cotton with co-catalyst system — Dr KAN Chi-wai, Associate Professor, The Institute of Textiles and Clothing

Dr Terence LAU, Director of Innovation and Technology Development of PolyU, said the awards received over two years are “recognition of the efforts, dedication and achievements of our research faculty members”. “The University will continue to push the frontiers of innovation by nurturing a culture inducive to high impact multi-disciplinary projects. Our research endeavours will continue to contribute to our society and mankind.”

TechConnect grants awards to the top 15% of innovations submitted, with assessment based on the potential positive impact the submitted technology will have on a specific industry sector. Around 500 submissions from about 180 organisations were received this year. Among them, 25 are presented with global awards designated for non-US-federal-funded innovations across the world. Another 55 national awards are granted to innovations with US federal funding. The award receivers include many global-renowned institutions and premier research centres, such as Stanford University, UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles), Argonne National Laboratory, IBM Research, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Naval Research Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, etc.

The PolyU delegation received the awards in person at the TechConnect World Conference and Expo 2018 held in Anaheim, California. At the  20th-anniversary event held from 13 to 16 May, PolyU showcased a total of 15 innovations to numerous members from the industry, government and academia sectors around the world. Besides attending various exchange sessions PolyU delegates also explored product development and cooperation opportunities with various industry end-users, multinational companies and academic institutions to strive for applying the innovations for bringing greater impacts to the world. 

For details, please refer to TechConnect official website.
To view the snapshots, please click here.

PolyU Projects with 2018 TechConnect Global Innovation Awards

Composite multi-layers capacitors with colossal permittivity for electronics and energy storage applications
— Professor HAO Jianhua, Professor & Associate Head, and Ms TSE Mei-yan, Department of Applied Physics, PolyU
With global demand for energy storage growing rapidly over the past decade, surging research efforts worldwide have been put in developing novel capacitors, which can achieve fast charging, high power density and  long cycling lifetime than conventional batteries. This innovation of PolyU is the first report on simultaneously achieving large dielectric constant (i.e. a lot of energy can be stored); negligible dielectric loss (i.e. energy not leaking out and being wasted easily) and high energy density in flexible composite capacitors based on metal-ion co-doped colossal permittivity materials.

The host titanium dioxide used in this colossal permittivity system is environment-friendly, non-toxic and abundant. The process developed (solution casting and hot-pressing technique) is relatively simple and low cost for mass production of the composite films, as the ceramic powder fillers are fabricated by conventional solid-state sintering method. The dielectric capacitors we developed based on composite multi-layers present a relatively high dielectric constant with exceptional low loss. The maximum energy density achieved simultaneously is remarkable compared to nano-composites with other ceramic particle fillers. Such novel composite multi-layers capacitors are expected to be greatly superior to the conventional one-dielectric currently used in such systems. Moreover, power electronic applications are currently limited by the capacitor size and performance. Multi-layered capacitors can be easily patterned, with fully solid-state construction, thus being superior to conventional electrochemical construction in many aspects including improved safety.

Low cost flame retardant treatment for cotton with co-catalyst system
— Dr KAN Chi-wai, Associate Professor, The Institute of Textiles and Clothing, PolyU
Fabrics made from cellulosic fibres, such as cotton and linen, will burn easily with a high flame velocity. Many flame retardant (FR) agents and application methods have been developed for producing FR textile materials.  However, for being efficiently fixed to cotton fibres, the FR agents must be used in combination with a resin and catalyst which may introduce side effects such as reduced tearing strength and whiteness. In this invention, co-catalyst is used which can effectively enhance FR treatment and minimise the side effects of FR treatment.  The finishing formulation developed is applied to cotton fabric by conventional pad-dry-cure finishing techniques. 

This technology is more cost-saving than conventional methods, as it can reduce the curing temperature and time used for FR treatment, and retain good FR property of cotton fabric even at a lower curing temperature and shorter curing time. It can also effectively minimise the side effects after FR treatment.