As we progress into 2025, we extend our best wishes for a prosperous and healthy year ahead!

 

This issue of Innovation Digest centres around the theme "lntegrating Innovation: Advances in Materials and Manufacturing". At the forefront of technology, advanced materials and manufacturing drive a sustainable and efficient future. Rising energy demand and the urgency to reduce greenhouse gas emissions underscore the need for research into sustainable energy solutions. These two interconnected elements – materials and manufacturing – fuel innovation and energy solutions, enhancing performance while reducing resource consumption and waste.

 

We shine the spotlight on our researchers' groundbreaking achievements in fabricating advanced materials for electronic device technology and manufacturing. Featured research includes: 

  •    nanoscale ferroelectric materials for advancing non-volatile memory and in-memory computing devices 
  •    scalable integration of high-crystalline ultrathin black phosphorus films on substrates for electrical and optoelectronic applications 
  •    integration of permeable, flexible and 3D electronic skins for wireless communication 
  •    novel additives to improve carrier lifetime in organic and perovskite solar cells 
  •    novel metalated graphene catalysts for efficient photocatalytic carbon dioxide reduction 
  •    invention of solar-driven adaptive radiative cooling coating with polymer carbon dots-enhanced photoluminescence 
  •    creation of a novel portable system based on a wearable fluidic fabric device for rapid skin temperature modulation 
  •    synthesis of a novel bifunctional air electrode material 

We also highlight the latest advancements in manufacturing technologies, such as: 

  •    a pioneering scalable surface design that offers an energy-free solution for preventing surface ice adhesion in advanced manufacturing and automation; and 
  •    an innovative heterogeneous hypergraph learning framework for analysing surface defects in additive manufacturing processes to optimise production. 

Meanwhile, we continue to celebrate our research students’ achievements work in advanced materials and manufacturing in the Student Corner. Last but not least, our new Engagement & Partnership section showcases recent initiatives in advanced materials and manufacturing. 

 

We hope you find this issue both informative and inspiring. Enjoy your reading!

 

Prof. Cheng DONG
Chairman of the Editorial Committee

Associate Vice President (Mainland Research Advancement)

Chair Professor of Cell Engineering and ImmunoMedicine,

Department of Biomedical Engineering