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PolyU researchers collaborate with international institutions to enable the next generation of batteries and energy systems

As society becomes more mobile, rechargeable batteries have become essential for a wide range of applications in strategic industries such as automotive, power grid, aerospace, robotics and consumer electronics. Such increasing societal dependence makes battery safety, reliability and performance essential. The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) has joined an international research team led by Collège de France, together with The French National Centre for Scientific Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Dalhousie University, to enable the next generation of portable energy storage systems by injecting smart sensing and monitoring functionalities into the dynamic electrochemical devices in a cost-effective and scalable way. Their study, titled “Operando decoding of chemical and thermal events in commercial Na(Li)-ion cells via optical sensors” (link), was published in the high-impact international journal Nature Energy this week. The research team has achieved a breakthrough by incorporating optical fibre “Bragg” grating (FBG) sensors within 18650 format cells (a standard for commercial batteries) which enables twofold enhancement. Firstly, the use of optimised internal structures in the FBGs allow for the collection of clean, high-resolution optical signals from the sensors. Secondly, advanced signal analysis is employed to decode the thermal and chemical events taking place within the battery as never seen before. “Currently, commercialised battery ‘packs’ are equipped with temperature sensors positioned at the module level (set of cells) and not directly at each cell. The conventional configuration leads to very conservative and ultimately inefficient battery management systems (BMS) since the actual sensors do not inform us what is really happening within the batteries, especially in terms of thermal/chemical events,” explained Prof. Jean-Marie TARASCON, Professor at the Collège de France and senior author of the study. By optimising the positions of three optical sensors, it is possible not only to obtain the internal and surface temperatures, but it further enables direct calculation of battery heat generation and transfers with unprecedented accuracy. Consequently, new BMS systems optimised with optical fibre sensors might be capable of bringing the world one step closer towards the common goal of reaching the theoretical limits of energy storage systems. The FBG sensors, one of the key components of the battery management system in this study, were developed in the Photonics Research Centre at PolyU by researchers of the Department of Electrical Engineering, namely Chair Professor of Photonics and Head Prof. Hwa-yaw TAM, Postdoctoral Researcher Dr Julien BONEFACINO and Associate Professor Dr Steven BOLES. Under the direction of Prof. Tam, the Photonics Research Centre has been investigating FBG sensors for around 30 years and has had great success in the past few years with deploying them in regional infrastructure projects (for example, Tsing Ma Bridge) and with international railway transportation companies (such as MTR, SMRT). For this cross-institutional research project, the team developed and fabricated a new type of “microstructured” FBG which is paired in tandem with a traditional FBG. The novel approach of putting multiple sensors together, each with a different sensitivity to the external environment, allows for the decoupling of temperature and pressure signals in real-time inside a battery. This precision monitoring can then be used to decipher key aspects of battery operation and degradation. For example, the decomposition of battery electrolyte was investigated with unprecedented resolution during real-world operation. “The technical and scientific advances highlighted in this project have been made possible by the convergence of battery science and optical fibre sensor engineering,” said Prof. Hwa-Yaw TAM who is renowned for his work in the area of FBGs. “The superb chemical stability and ease of scaling/expansion make FBGs ideal for deployment in new applications in the energy industry.” There is great potential for the extension of this approach in future applications. The team has already started to look to other energy storage devices, such as alkaline batteries, fuel cells and supercapacitors, as well as other important applications, such as catalysis and water splitting for the production of hydrogen. [From PolyU Media Release]   Related News Articles: 理大研發新便攜儲能系統 [星島日報 (Sing Tao Daily)]

【#WeArePolyU】Serving society is a responsibility of all citizens.

As chairman of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers – Student Chapter (HKIESC), Sum promoted the passion and commitment to serving society among engineering students. Together with other members of the Student Chapter, he organised an electrical installation inspection service programme to check the safety of domestic electrical system and appliances for the elderly living alone or low-income families in Hong Kong. Through the programme, participants not only learnt professional knowledge and skills about electrical appliances, but also helped others in the community. More: https://polyu.hk/dmwnI Sum Chan | Outstanding Student 2019 (Faculty of Engineering) [From PolyU Facebook]  

理大獲批 270 萬研手提檢測儀及試劑　金納米粒子恆溫快速檢測助分流

理大獲批 270 萬研手提檢測儀及試劑　金納米粒子恆溫快速檢測助分流 [Unwire.Pro]

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PolyU contributes to the Nation’s first Mars mission with the Mars Camera

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) has successfully developed and manufactured the “Mars Landing Surveillance Camera” (“Mars Camera”), one of the key instruments onboard the Mars spacecraft, to participate in the Nation’s first Mars mission Tianwen-1, which was launched today. The spacecraft for the Mars probe comprises an orbiter, a lander and a rover, aiming to complete orbiting, landing and roving in one single mission, an unprecedented attempt globally, as well as to obtain scientific exploration data on the Red Planet. Located on the outside top surface of the Mars lander platform, the Mars Camera will monitor the landing status, the surrounding environment and movements of the rover with respect to the unfolding and status of the solar panels and antennae. The information is critical for the successful movement of the Mars Rover onto the Mars surface. Professor Jin-Guang TENG, President of PolyU, said, “We are deeply honoured to have taken part in and contributed to the Nation’s historic Mars mission. The delivery of the Mars Camera has again proved the creativity, capability and credibility of PolyU’s researchers in developing and manufacturing homegrown space instruments that meet the stringent requirements of space exploration. As the only tertiary education institution in Hong Kong with experience in international space missions, PolyU looks forward to contributing to more national deep space exploration projects in the future.” The Mars Camera is light in weight (around 390g) yet strong and durable enough to withstand the extreme temperature differences of about 150 degrees Celsius experienced during the nine-month journey between Earth and Mars, followed by operation under the extremely low temperatures on the Mars surface. As this Mars Camera is designed for the lander, it has also to withstand huge impact shock of 6,200G (i.e. 6,200 times the force of Earth’s gravity). Despite having a wide-angle field of view (a maximum of 120 degrees horizontally and a maximum of 120 degrees vertically), the Mars Camera has low image distortion. Led by Professor YUNG Kai-leung, PolyU’s Sir Sze-yuen Chung Professor in Precision Engineering, Chair Professor of Precision Engineering and Associate Head of Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, the 20-member research team overcame many technical difficulties and time constraints to develop a novel “Integrated Radiation Protection and Heat Flow Design, Testing and Quality Control System” used in the development of the Camera. Despite having a wealth of experience in developing state-of-the-art space tools, Professor YUNG found the Mars Camera project a challenging one. He said, “To capture ultra-wide angle images on Mars for scientific research, the Mars Camera has to have a wide field of vision with low distortion optics within the little allowable payload, but at the same time be able to withstand extreme temperature variation, mechanical impact and vibration within the little available mass. What’s more, high reliability is required under the extreme space travel environment.” Thanks to their dedication and perseverance, as well as the support of the University, the team successfully completed and delivered the Mars Camera with the corresponding space qualification experiments in less than three years. PolyU has been actively participating in other space exploration projects, designing and manufacturing a number of sophisticated space tools in the past decade. These include the “Mars Rock Corer” for the European Space Agency’s 2003 Mars Express Mission and the “Soil Preparation System” for the Sino-Russian Space Mission in 2011. Being the only tertiary institution in Hong Kong that possesses international space qualification experiences, PolyU has been contributing to the Nation’s space projects since 2010. As part of the Nation’s lunar exploration programme, Professor YUNG collaborated with the China Academy of Space Technology to develop a “Camera Pointing System” for Chang’e 3 in 2013 and Chang’e 4 for the historic landing on lunar far side in 2019. A PolyU research team is collaborating with the China Academy of Space Technology again to develop a “Surface Sampling and Packing System” for the Chang’e 5 and Chang’e 6 missions. Chang’e 5 will be launched later this year to collect samples from the surface of the moon. [From PolyU Media Release]   Related News Articles: 參與「嫦娥四號」登月後 理大再助國家「探火」 [大公報 (Ta Kung Po)] 攜手港團隊研製着陸取樣「神器」[大公報 (Ta Kung Po)] 「火星相機」香港驕傲 激勵港青投身創科 [文匯報 (Wen Wei Po)] Hong Kong PolyU camera plays major role in mission [中國日報香港版 (China Daily Hong Kong Edition)] 國家航天成就激發港人自豪和參與 [文匯報(Wen Wei Po)]

PolyU’s newest research on metalens-array-based high-dimensional and multi-photon quantum source published in Science

The top international journal, Science, has announced the latest paper of a joint team from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), Nanjing University, University of Science and Technology of China, National Taiwan University, Academia Sinica, East China Normal University, and National United University. The paper title is “Metalens-array-based high-dimensional and multi-photon quantum source” (link), and it reports on cutting-edge research in quantum information optics. The team’s work has resulted in the development of an advanced high-dimensional quantum entangled optical chip (optical meta-device). By combining quantum optics and metasurface optics, a 10×10 meta-lens array is designed, fabricated, and integrated with a nonlinear crystal (BaB2O4). It is experimentally demonstrated that the multi-photon pairs are superimposed and correlated with each other. The schematic of the high-dimensional quantum entangled optical chip (optical meta-device) is shown in Figure 1. In recent years, the internet plays an essential role in human life generally and in the rise of artificial intelligence technology specifically. The related needs are also booming, such as big data, the Internet of Things, etc. The computing speed and the storage capacity requirements have increased exponentially. According to Moore’s Law, the semiconductor industrial processes are quickly approaching their theoretical and physical limits, and improvement in the computing speed of the modern semiconductor chip has been gradually slowing down. To cope with higher information security, message-carrying capacity, and computation ability, quantum optics is seen as the most powerful solution. In quantum information science, such as quantum computing, quantum communication, and quantum cryptography, the physical picture is based on the generation, transmission, processing, and analysis of the quantum bits (qubits). In digital computing science, 0 and 1 are used as the binary variables. In quantum optics, a pair of entangled photons can contain multiple quantum states. When the quantum states of multiple pairs of entangled photon pairs are coupled and superimposed on each other, a new high-dimensional quantum superposition state will be generated, as shown in Figures 2 and 3. In the team’s work, a 10×10 meta-lens array and spontaneous down-conversion nonlinear crystals are integrated to form a high-dimensional quantum entangled optical chip (optical meta-device). This meta-device can generate 100 entangled photon pairs simultaneously, and the photon pairs correlate with each other. The research team has successfully developed a high-dimensional quantum entangled light source chip (meta-device). The interference experiment obtained a fidelity of nearly 98.4%, which confirmed the feasibility of this high-dimensional quantum entangled optical chip (optical meta-device). This breakthrough research will help quantum information science to realise many applications in our daily life in the future, such as quantum mobile communications, email access, online transactions, cashless payments, ATMs and e-banking, internet security, machine learning, artificial intelligence, neural networks and other applications related to security and confidentiality. [From PolyU Media Release]  

PolyU secures HK$32.6 million research funding from Research Impact Fund

Five research projects led by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) have secured HK$32.6 million funding from the Research Impact Fund (RIF) under Research Grants Council (RGC) in the 2019/20 round of funding. For the second year running, PolyU obtained the largest amount of funding support among local universities in terms of the dollar amount and the total number of funded projects. The projects, led by PolyU as the "coordinating university", are as follows, which details are listed in the Appendix. Project Project-in-charge Funding Amount (HK$ million) Data Storage and Retrieval Using Peptides and Tandem Mass Spectrometry Sequencing Dr YAO Zhongping Associate Professor, Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology 9.7 Forward-looking Intravascular Photoacoustic/Ultrasound Imaging Technology for the Asssessment and Guidance of Cardiovascular Chronic Total Occlusion Intervention Dr LAM Kwok-ho Associate Professor & Associate Head, Department of Electrical Engineering 4.3 Mapping and characterization for optimized evaluation of potential landing sites on the Moon and Mars to support future missions Dr WU Bo Associate Professor, Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics 4.5 Improving Vision and Quality of Life in Patients with Glaucoma Using Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation and Perceptual Learning: A Randomized Clinical Trial Dr CHEONG Ming Yan Allen Associate Professor, School of Optometry 8.8 Edge Learning: the Enabling Technology for Distributed Big Data Analytics in Cloud-Edge Environment Professor GUO Song Professor & Associate Head, Department of Computing 5.3 Total Amount 32.6   Professor Alexander Wai, Deputy President and Provost of PolyU, said, "This is testimony to the University’s capacity in undertaking impactful and translational research projects, as well as a recognition to our efforts in promoting knowledge advancement. PolyU will continue to leverage our strengths to foster strategic collaboration and partnerships across disciplines and institutions. We look forward to the fruitful results of the research teams' research and their contributions to the well-being of humankind. " The RIF, established by the University Grants Committee and administered by the RGC, aims to encourage universities in Hong Kong to conduct more collaborative research projects that may help meet Hong Kong's strategic and societal needs, and foster more collaborative efforts with stakeholders beyond academia. [From PolyU Website]  

Two PolyU scholars win Leader of the Year Award 2019

Congratulations! Two PolyU scholars have recently won a Sing Tao News Corporation Limited Leader of the Year Award 2019 in the Education/Professions/Technology and Innovation category. They are Prof. Yung Kai-leung, Chair Professor and Associate Head of our Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, and Dr Wu Bo, Associate Professor in our Department of Land Surveying and Geo-informatics. They are honoured for their outstanding achievements in assisting with Chang’e-4, China’s lunar exploration programme. Over the years, Dr Wu Bo’s team have been working hard developing a lunar topographic mapping and geomorphological analysis technique for finding the best location for the spacecraft’s landing on the far side of the Moon. At the same time, Prof. Yung’s team, in collaboration with the China Academy of Space Technology, have developed the Camera Pointing System which enabled Chang’e-4 to send back stunning panoramic images of the lunar landing and rover deployment – the world’s first-ever glimpses of this uncharted region. China’s Chang’e-4 lunar probe performed the very first soft landing on the far side of the Moon on 3 January 2019. This historic event, the Nation’s second lunar landing and a milestone in its pioneering lunar exploration programme, was greatly aided by interdisciplinary effort from researchers at PolyU. PolyU is the only university in Hong Kong that has contributed to the Chang’e-4 space mission. Click here for the detailed story. Prof. Yung said the award would have a positive effect in attracting talents to aerospace research. Both scholars encouraged young people with an interest in scientific research to explore the universe, thus potentially helping to reveal not only the secrets of the origins of humanity but also the earth’s future. The Leader of the Year Award has been organized by Sing Tao News Corporation Limited every year since 1994. The awards pay homage to distinguished individuals who make an exceptional contribution to Hong Kong and who serve as role models for the next generation. Distinguished Leaders of the Year in five categories (Commerce & Industry/Finance; Community/Public Affairs/Environment & Conservation; Education/Professions/Technology & Innovation; Sports/Culture/Performing Arts; Young Entrepreneur) were honoured this year, which marks the 26th anniversary of the Award. [From PolyU Website]   Related News Articles: 艱巨環境更顯領導精神 逆境創非凡成就 傑出領袖實至名歸 [頭條日報 (Headline Daily)] Leaders Shine In Challenging Times [英文虎報 (The Standard)] 探月幕後功臣 敢於冒險拓視野 [星島日報 Sing Tao Daily)]

PolyU Online JUPAS Consultation Day (Click to view the talks on Engineering Programmes)

PolyU Online JUPAS Consultation Day (Click to view the talks on Engineering Programmes)

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