News

Gigantic Effect Due to Phase Transition on Thermoelectric Properties of Ionic Sol-gel Materials

Sol-gel phase transition in ionic thermoelectrical (i-TE) materials induced large rapid change in viscosity and ionic transport process thus it was expected to give a drastic variation in thermoelectric properties, crucial in low-grade waste heat harvesting for Internet of thing (IoT) and wearable electronic applications. Prof. Xiaoming TAO’s research team prepared and examined four types of ionic thermoelectric materials featured with non-phase-transition, thermal sol-to-gel phase-transition, thermal gel-to-sol phase-transition and UV-induced sol-to-gel phase-transition, which was recently published in Advanced Functional Materials. For the first time, a large rise of the thermopower was observed by 6.5 times during the sol-gel transition of poloxamer/LiCl system, an even greater ionic figure of merit by around 23 times. The phenomenon was found to be universal as the large variation in thermopower was confirmed in the other thermal gel-sol transitional and UV induced transitional materials. In addition, the mechanism and proposed a model was further revealed that dealt with the pre-, post- and during- phase-transition processes. Finally, six factors were probed influencing the huge variation of the thermopower during the phase-transition and shed light on the possible gigantic changes of thermopower during the phase transition. A possible route to design and control the desired TE performances of materials was uncovered, which can lead to a new sight in tunable i-TE devices for low-heat energy harvesting applications.

Cooperation Opportunities with My Heart Bodibra

Ms. Linda ZHENG, Mr. Yi ZHOU, Operation Director and Customer Service Director of My Heart Bodibra Limited, a subsidiary of Ocean Star Technology Group Limited, and Mr. Franky WONG, CEO of YELLO sport marketing agency visited RI-IWEAR for learning about the latest trend of the textile technologies on 9th Sept 2022. My Heart Bodibra Limited is a company that designs, develops, and produces women's apparel. This visit was arranged with the help of Ms. Gloria LEUNG, Head of Projects from Proactive Think Tank.   Prof. Xiaoming TAO, Prof. Jintu FAN, Prof. Hong HU, Prof. Lilly LI, and Dr Dahua SHOU showed the recent research outputs which could be applied to the areas of underwear and sportswear. Ms. ZHENG shared her views on the needs of materials, especially materials' lifetime for the product inventory, and expressed the intention for the Business-School Partnership. 

Prof. Xiaoming TAO Attended the PolyU InnoTech Open Day and Gave a Talk at the Research & Innovation Breakout Sessions

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) held the PolyU InnoTech Open Day in 16 July 2022 to showcase the University’s latest endeavours in education, interdisciplinary research, knowledge transfer and entrepreneurship which were helping to empower the innovation and technology (I&T) development of Hong Kong, the Greater Bay Area (GBA) and beyond. Prof. Xiaoming TAO, Director of RI-IWEAR, attended the Opening Ceremony also marked the inauguration of the PolyU Academy for Interdisciplinary Research (PAIR). PAIR is the largest research platform of its kind in Hong Kong and the GBA to foster interdisciplinary research, partnership with world-renowned scholars, and the transfer of technologies to stakeholders. Prof. Xiaoming TAO, Prof. Bingang XU, and Dr Tao HUA, as one of the 10 winning teams of the President’s Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Knowledge Transfer (KT), were also presented with the awards at the ceremony. The President’s Awards for Outstanding Achievement in KT recognises impactful projects demonstrated contributions in advancing technological or industry standards through application of PolyU’s research and innovations (for more information of the technology, please visit https://polyu.hk/vnLjb). In addition to the Opening Ceremony, a series of activities were held throughout the day, providing visitors with an excellent opportunity to learn more about PolyU’s contributions to I&T, as well as to explore academic, entrepreneurial and collaboration opportunities. The Research & Innovation breakout sessions featured novel and frontier topics related to life sciences, smart cities, neurohealth, future society, energy technology for carbon-neutrality, healthy food and lifestyle management, future manufacturing, artificial intelligence of things and intelligent wearable systems. These sessions served as a platform for industry practitioners and PolyU expert researchers to exchange views on technology innovation and development, collaboration, industry trends and applications. Prof. TAO gave a talk at the session of artificial intelligence of things and intelligent wearable systems. Please click here for more details. 

RI-IWEAR Members Obtained The President’s Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Knowledge Transfer 2021

Further to the invitation of nominations in February 2021 and the subsequent assessment processes for the captioned, Prof. Xiaoming TAO, director of RI-IWEAR, and Prof. Bingang XU and Dr Tao HUA, two of RI-IWEAR members’ research Yarn-spinning Technology Revolution: Nu-TorquTM have obtained The President’s Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Knowledge Transfer 2021: Industry. A total of five teams was awarded this prize.   Nu-Torque is a revolutionary yarn-spinning technology that uses physical means to create yarns with lower torque and twist while achieving the same strength as conventionally spun yarns. Fabrics made with Nu-Torque yarns are less prone to deformation even after repeatedly washed, while also feel softer, look shinier and with less hairiness. Compared with conventional yarn-spinning technology, Nu-Torque also improves productivity, saves energy and reduces pollutions. Fabrics and garments made with Nu-Torque yarns are widely sold in the U.S., Europe, Japan and China.   Congratulation to our colleagues for the work on knowledge transfer.

International Conference on Intelligent Wearable Systems 2022 held successfully

International Conference on Intelligent Wearable Systems 2022 (ICIWS 2022), a three-day conference, was successfully completed on Jun 29, 2022. The conference was organized by the Research Institute for Intelligent Wearable Systems (RI-IWEAR) of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU).   The conference included four sessions: MATERIALS, DEVICES AND PROCESSING SENSORS, ACTUATORS AND BIOELECTRONICS ENERGY HARVESTING AND STORAGE SYSTEM INTEGRATION AND EMERGING APPLICATIONS   The conference invited 29 experts to share their experiences in the fundamental research and applications of flexible materials, sensors, energy devices, integration of wearable electronic systems and their applications. It attracted over 1778 people registered online for the conference, from 21 countries and regions, including China, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Israel, US, Canada, UK, Germany, and Spain. etc. Among the registered participants, 85 came from companies, 53 from research institutes, and the rest from universities. The conference was also broadcasted simultaneously via a number of social media, including YouTube, Bilibili, Weibo, and WeChat. According to the statistics provided by social media, for the three days of the conference, a total of over 110,000 views were registered.

Intelligent wearable system with accurate detection of abnormal gait and timely cueing for mobility enhancement of people with Parkinson’s disease

The entire world, approximately ten million people have Parkinson’s disease (PD), which is the second most popular neurodegenerative disease. The most distinct symptoms of PD are movement ("motor") related. Previously reported wearable systems for people with Parkinson’s disease (PD) have been focused on the detection of abnormal gait. They suffered from limited accuracy, large latency, poor durability, comfort, and convenience for daily use. Herewith an intelligent wearable system (IWS) was interdisciplinary research by Prof. Xiaoming TAO and Prof. Margaret Mak, which can accurately detect abnormal gait in real-time and provide timely cueing for PD patients. The system features novel sensitive, comfortable and durable plantar pressure sensing insoles with a highly compressed data set, an accurate and fast gait algorithm, and wirelessly controlled timely sensory cueing devices. A total of 29 PD patients participated in the first phase without cueing for developing processes of the algorithm, which achieved an accuracy of over 97% for off-line detection of freezing of gait (FoG). In the second phase with cueing, the evaluation of the whole system was conducted with 16 PD subjects via trial and a questionnaire survey. This system demonstrated an accuracy of 94% for real-time detection of FoG and a mean latency of 0.37 s between the onset of FoG and cueing activation. In the questionnaire survey, 88% of the PD participants confirmed that this wearable system could effectively enhance walking, 81% thought that the system was comfortable and convenient, and 70% overcame the FoG. Therefore, the IWS makes it an effective, powerful, and convenient tool for enhancing the mobility of people with PD. The research was recently published in Wearable Technologies.

Prof. Zijian ZHENG Introduced a New Kind of Liquid-metal Fibre Mat at Now TV

Professor Zijian Zheng was interviewed by Now TV earlier, he introduced a new type of liquid-metal fibre mat developed by his team. The material is highly permeable and super elastic, which can be used for wearable electronic devices. Prof. Zheng expressed his hope in this research is to assist in athletes’ training and the medical field in the future.

RI-IWEAR Members Won Two Awards at TechConnect World Innovation 2022

Prof. Hong HU, Dr Dahua SHOU and Prof. Jintu FAN, members of Research Institute for Intelligent Wearable Systems (RI-IWEAR), won two prestigious global innovation awards in the areas of materials science and biotechnology at the TechConnect World Innovation Conference and Expo 2022 - the world’s largest multi-sector event for fostering the development and commercialisation of innovations.   The award-winning innovations include a new type of more environment-friendly moisture-absorbing and sweat-releasing fabric and an automatic temperature-controllable mask. Details are as follows: Moisture-Absorbing and Sweat-Releasing Multilayer Polylactic Acid Fabric and Manufacturing Technology (Prof. HU Hong, Institute of Textiles and Clothing) The new fabric stands out from existing moisture-absorbing fabric technology in that its fabrication technique is simpler, cheaper, and more environment-friendly. By employing double weft knitting technology, it only takes one single manufacturing process to produce the new fabric structure with improved moisture-absorbing and sweat-releasing properties. It also has inherent biological resistance and is ideal for use in school uniforms and sportswear. Omni-Cool-Breath: A Smart Air-Conditioned Mask (Dr SHOU Dahua, Professor FAN Jintu and Dr HUANG Guanghan, Institute of Textiles and Clothing) Omni-Cool-Breath is the first automatic temperature-controllable mask that brings revolutionary access to all-day cool breath and thermal comfort under various activities and thermal conditions. It reduces temperature by 12°C and humidity by 65% under low voltage via an innovative miniature thermoelectric cooling system. The ergonomically designed lightweight mask uses skin-friendly and biodegradable 3D printing materials that enable the user to enjoy nine hours of clean air.   For more information of the TechConnect 2022 Innovation Awardees, please visit the official website: https://www.techconnectworld.com/World2022/participate/innovation/awards.html

Professor Feng YAN’s Team Develops Ultrasensitive and Portable Detection Sensor for Rapid, Easy and Low-cost COVID-19 Antibody Test

Professor Feng YAN’s team has successfully developed an ultrasensitive and portable COVID-19 antibody detection sensor based on organic electrochemical transistor (OECT) technology. Fast and easy-to-use, the sensor is designed for testing the antibody levels of people who have either received vaccination or have been infected with the virus.   The whole detection process, which uses saliva sample instead of only blood, takes less than six minutes and the cost per test is only about HK$10. The antibody detection sensor can test the concentration of antibodies from lower than 10fM to higher than 100nM. The detection limit satisfies the needs of exquisite analytical sensitivity for saliva.   Professor YAN said that since the detection process is non-invasive, self-sampling is highly possible. Moreover, the operation and result reading are very simple with the use of a smartphone, and hence the sensor is suitable for instant detection and large-scale screening scenarios.   The next plan of the research team is to apply for funding for clinical studies in collaboration with different medical and testing institutions. They expect that the novel device can be commercialised as soon as practicable and applied for antibody detection of other viruses. 

Dr Ning LI Visited PolyU for Cooperation

Dr Ning LI, Chairman of Li-Ning Company Limited, visited PolyU on 5th May 2022 to seek further cooperation with PolyU. Li-Ning Company Limited is a famous Chinese sportswear and sports equipment company founded in 1989 by Ning LI, a former Chinese Olympic gymnast.   Professor Xiaoming TAO, Director of RI-IWEAR, Professor Jintu FAN, Professor Li LI, and Dr Tracy MOK, members of RI-IWEAR gave introductions on the research related to sportswear and health care for sportsmen, displayed the examples of the latest textile technology, and demonstrated the monitoring and rehabilitation technology for the sportsman, respectively.   Dr Ning LI detailed consulted on the relevant technical requirements and the possible development directions. The whole process of technology introduction and demonstration was broadcasted to the R & D team of Li-Ning Company Limited at the same time. This is communication for research and development knowledge transfer.