To address severe deterioration in marine infrastructure caused by steel corrosion, President Professor Jin-Guang Teng and his project team have developed seawater sea-sand concrete structures reinforced with fiber-reinforced polymer composites, replacing steel in concrete as the reinforcing material. Using seawater and sea-sand to make concrete requires less energy, resulting in lower environmental impact and an extended life span of marine infrastructure.

This project, in collaboration with researchers from Hong Kong, Mainland China, the United States, Europe and Japan, secured funding of over HK$47.2 million from the Theme-based Research Scheme 2018/19 of the Research Grants Council. This project was awarded the largest amount of funding among the five projects selected in the eighth round of the scheme.

Developed by the Department of Building Services Engineering, the self-cleaning transparent thermal insulation glass coating can break down organic pollutants. With a contact angle of fewer than 5 degrees, the coating can block over 70% IR or 90% UV light while transmitting more than 70% of visible light. Characterized with thermal insulation and photo-catalysis properties, the coating not only helps reduce the heat from outside to lower the demand for air conditioning, but also minimizes the use of chemical agents for window cleaning. In recognition of its innovation and environmental benefits, this glass coating was awarded a Certificate of Merit in the 2017 Hong Kong Green Innovations Awards (HKGIA), organized by the Environmental Campaign Committee with support from the Environmental Protection Department and nine other organizations.

Tackling the cost and hardware challenges of wastewater recycling and seawater desalination, the Department of Applied Physics has developed an idea of upcycling black waste packaging foam as a solar absorber. Possessing the heat absorbing property, it captures solar heat when floating on the water surface to accelerate vapor generation and distilled water condensation. Coupling dopamine with the heat absorbing property of black foam, the water evaporation rate is enhanced and the water vapor is condensed on the inner top cover of a solar absorber as distilled water. With the experimental result of an increase of more than 3.5 times in water evaporation efficiency on the surface, the dopamine-treated waste black sponge solar absorber has received a honored recognition in the first Asia Exhibition of Inventions Hong Kong.