Issue 2

Department of Electronic and Information Engineering (EIE)

Invention on Novel Stretchable Organic Photovoltaic (OPV) Device

A research team led by Professor Gang Li invented a novel stretchable Organic Photovoltaic (OPV) device with a surface-texturing substrate delivering a comparable power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 20.5% comparing 20.8% for the rigid device. The texturing stretchable substrate provides a new direction for achieving high performance and enhanced light utilization for the stretchable light-harvesting device, which is suitable for both indoor and outdoor applications. As the first author, Professor Li's PhD student, Jiaming Huang, has published a paper "Stretchable ITO‐Free Organic Solar Cells with Intrinsic Anti‐Reflection Substrate for High‐Efficiency Outdoor and Indoor Energy Harvesting" in the top-tier materials science journal, Advanced Functional Materials (2019 Impact Factor of 16.836) about this invention. This journal reports breakthrough research in all aspects of materials science, including nanotechnology, chemistry, physics, and biology every week. The paper can be read online at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/adfm.202010172.

Dr Ivan Ho and his research group were featured in the TVB programme, Decoding the GBA

Dr Ivan Ho and his research group were featured in the TVB programme, Decoding the GBA《大灣區解碼》, which was broadcasted on 1 July 2021. In the interview, Dr Ho discussed how the new policy of allowing cross-boundary remittance of the Mainland research funding would benefit the academic research in Hong Kong. Dr Ho also shared some examples including his research and the development on digital twin for connected autonomous vehicles, and indoor positioning and robot tracking services with the audience.

2020/21 Poster Competition for EIE Research Students

The Department of Electronic and Information Engineering organized the 2020/21 Poster Competition for EIE Research Students between April and May 2021. The competition provided a good chance for our students to think through their research direction more rigorously and to present their preliminary research results. 26 PhD and MPhil students joined Phase I of the competition to submit the research poster and presentation video. Together with the academic and research staff, the contestants were invited to review, rate and give comments on the posters of their peers joining the competition. The quality of the submissions was very high this year. Based on the scores and comments gathered from all parties, the Selection Panel formed by the Departmental Research Committee shortlisted 6 research students as the finalists to enter into Phase II of the competition. The finalists gave a 15-minute presentation on the poster content at the online Oral Presentation Session on 6 May 2021. According to their presentation skills, ability to address questions from the audience and the poster’s technical content, the Selection Panel selected the awardees as follows.

Collaborative Project on Ultra-high-power-density Onboard Charger for Electric Vehicles

A collaborative project led by Dr KH Loo with the Songshan Lake Materials Laboratory of the Institute of Physics, Dongguan Campus, Chinese Academy of Sciences, as co-applicant has received a total funding of HK$6.58M, including HK$5.98M from the Innovation and Technology Commission and HK$0.6M industrial sponsorship from the Semiland Co., Ltd. Nowadays electric vehicles are increasingly manufactured with higher battery capacity for achieving a longer driving range. To enable these batteries to be replenished within a reasonable length of time, onboard chargers with increasing power levels need to be installed which inevitably leads to increased size and weight of electric vehicles and poorer energy-efficiency performance. This project titled "High-Power-Density High-Efficiency On-Board Electric Vehicle Charger Based on Thermally Enhanced Silicon Carbide Power Module and Advanced Power Conversion Technologies" aims to develop the next-generation ultra-high-power-density onboard charger for electric vehicles through cutting-edge innovations in power converter topology and control, advanced packaging technologies for third-generation power semiconductor modules, and low-gate-loss driver design.

Development of an AI-assisted Platform to Address Learning and Assessment Needs of Virtual Presentations in English

In collaboration with the English teachers at the Hong Kong Baptist University, Dr Pauli Lai co-leads an inter-institutional collaborative project on "AI-assisted Virtual Presentation Skills Training" with Dr Julia Chen, Director of Educational Development Center of PolyU. With a funding of HK$1.575 million from the UGC's Special Grant for Strategic Development of Virtual Teaching and Learning, the project aims to develop an AI-assisted platform to address the learning and assessment needs regarding virtual presentations in English. The AI platform incorporated with AI feedback technologies will help students to practise oral presentations and assist teachers to grade their students' presentations. There are three major components in this platform, including learning units with oral presentation exercises, preliminary AI evaluation function for presentation practices, and customizable rubrics for teachers to adjust the evaluation criteria and weightings based on their discipline-specific requirements. It is expected that through this online platform, students can learn how to deliver a good presentation, develop their self-learning ability and improve their confidence in public presentations.

Launch of Service-Learning Subject in Online Mode

To raise the digital literacy of the needy in developing countries, Dr Pauli Lai, Mr Ivan Lau and Mr Richard Pang arranged a service-learning trip to Vietnam and Cambodia to teach the IT knowledge and skills for the students there in 2019 with positive feedback. According to this experience, a service-learning subject "EIE2S02 - Promoting Digital Literacy in Developing Societies" was subsequently proposed and launched in January 2021. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the IT workshops had to be delivered online with different constraints like the availability of stable network and computers in the developing countries. The PolyU students adapted their teaching materials such as adding game elements to demonstrate and inspire the children in Vietnam and Cambodia through the internet to explore digital technologies in this service-learning course. Our students were able to overcome the physical barriers in communication and established relationship with the children throughout the service learning process.