News

IWEAR hosted the PAIR Conference with theme of Intelligent Wearable Systems.

The Research Institute for Intelligent Wearable Systems (RI-IWEAR) hosted the PAIR Conference on 10 May 2023, with theme of Intelligent Wearable Systems. The conference was attended by experts, researchers, and professionals from various fields. The whole conference featured talks by eight speakers' presentation, two panel discussion, and one poster presentaion section.   The first speaker, Prof. Dinggang SHEN, founding dean from the School of Biomedical Engineering, ShanghaiTech University, presented on the topic of Fast Development and Deployment of AI Techniques for Real Medical Applications. The second speaker, Prof. Feng YAN, ADoRI of IWEAR and Chair Professor of Organic Electronics from Department of Applied Physics, Faculty of Science, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, presented on the topic of Organic Electrochemical Transistors for Sensing Applications. The thrid speaker, Prof. Yang CHAI, Associate Dean of Faculty of Science and Professor of Department of Applied Physics, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University presented on the topic of Retina-inspired Vision Sensors. The fourth speaker, Dr Xinge YU, Associate Professor of Department of Biomedical Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, presented on the topic of Intelligent Skin Electronics for Healthcare Monitoring and XR. The fifth speaker, Prof. ZHENG Zijian, ADoRI of IWEAR and Chair Professor of Soft Materials and Devices of Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology, Faculty of Science, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, presented on the topic of Textile Composite Electrodes for Extreme-Flexible Batteries and Beyond. The sixth speaker, Prof. Robert YOUNG, Professor of Polymer Science and Technology, Department of Materials, The University of Manchester, presented on top of Multifunctional Nanocomposites: Achievements and Prospects. The seventh speaker, Dr Lin SHU, Senior Engineer of Associate Head, School of Future Technology, South China University of Technology, presented on topic of Research and Application of Wearable Physiological and Psychological Computing Technology. The eighth speaker, Prof. Wei ZENG, Professor of Institute of Chemical Engineering, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, presented on topic of Ionic Thermoelectric Generator with a Giant Output Power Density and High Energy Density Enabled by Synergy of Thermodiffusion and Redox-pair Transfer Effect.   After the experts' sharing on the theme of Intelligent Wearable Systems, Dr Olga BUBNOVA, Chief Editor of Nature Reviews Electrical Engineering, presented on topic of Publishing in Nature Portfolio – from Nature Research journals to Nature Reviews journals. After, the other panel discussion on the topic pf Challenges and Opportunities of Intelligent Wearable Systems was held, with Prof. Feng YAN, Prof. Wei ZENG, and Dr Lin SHU as main speakers and Prof. Xiaoming TAO as moderator. At the end of the conference, there was the poster presentation section. Overall, the conference was a great success, providing a platform for experts and researchers to share their knowledge and experiences on intelligent wearable systems. The Research Institute for Intelligent Wearable Systems will continue to organise similar events in the future, to continue promoting research and development in the field.    

Research on In-sensor Computing was Published in Nature Nanotechnology

Prof. Yang CHAI, a member of RI-IWEAR, collaborated with the researchers at Yonsei University in Korea and published an article entitled “Optoelectronic graded neurons for bioinspired in-sensor motion perception” in Nature Nanotechnology.    The motion perception by conventional machine vision usually occupies abundant computation resources, which greatly restricts its application at edge terminals. To perceive the dynamic motion at sensory terminals, it demands the hardware that can conduct visual processing in a more efficient way. Flying insects can agilely detect the motion with a tiny visual system (~800 photoreceptors and 10^5 neurons in the brain), which inspires us to emulate the characteristics with hardware devices for in-sensor motion perception.   One of the reasons for the agile visual system of flying insect is its graded neural structure, which exhibits much higher information transmission rate (1000 bit/s) than that of spiking neuron (~300 bit/s) and allows to fuse spatiotemporal information at sensory terminals. Prof. Chai’s team adopted MoS2 phototransistor to emulate the non-spiking graded neurons of insect vision systems. The charge dynamics of the shallow trapping centres in MoS2 phototransistors mimic the characteristics of graded neurons, exhibiting multilevel response and volatile feature.   The optoelectronic graded neuron array can directly perceive different types of motion. The bioinspired sensor array can detect trajectories in the visual field with very economical hardware devices, allowing the efficient perception of the direction of the moving objects. By modulating the charge dynamics of the shallow trapping centres in MoS2 phototransistor, the bioinspired sensor array can recognize the motion with a temporal resolution ranging from 10^1 to 10^6 ms.   The bioinspired sensors have potential applications in robotics and artificial intelligence. For example, it could be used to develop more efficient and robots with better motion perception abilities by detecting and responding to the moving objects in the surrounding environment.

New Research on Artificial Cilia Published in Bioactive Materials

Preservation of growth factor sensitivity and bioactivity (e.g., bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2)) postimmobilization to tissue engineering scaffolds remains a great challenge. Dr Xin ZHAO, member of RI-IWEAR, collaborated with Prof. Zijian ZHENG, Associate Director of RI-IWEAR developed a stable and soft surface modification strategy to address this issue. BMP-2 (a model growth factor) is covalently immobilized onto homogeneous poly (glycidyl methacrylate) (PGMA) polymer brushes which are grafted onto substrate surfaces (Au, quartz glass, silica wafer, or common biomaterials) via surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization. This surface modification method multiplies the functionalized interfacial area; it is simple, fast, gentle, and has little effect on the loaded protein owing to the cilia motility. The immobilized BMP-2 (i-BMP-2) on the surface of homogeneous PGMA polymer brushes exhibits excellent bioactivity (⁓87% bioactivity of free BMP-2 in vitro and 20%–50% higher than scaffolds with free BMP-2 in vivo), with conformation and secondary structure well-preserved after covalent immobilization and ethanol sterilization. Moreover, the osteogenic activity of i-BMP-2 on the nanoline pattern (PGMA-poly (N-isopropylacrylamide)) shows ⁓110% bioactivity of free BMP-2. This is superior compared to conventional protein covalent immobilization strategies in terms of both bioactivity preservation and therapeutic efficacy. PGMA polymer brushes can be used to modify surfaces of different tissueengineered scaffolds, which facilitates in situ immobilization of growth factors, and accelerates repair of a wide range of tissue types. This research was published in Bioactive Materials, Volume 24, June 2023.

DoRI-IWEAR appointed Consultant of State Key Laboratory of Advanced Fiber Composite

Congratulations to Prof. Xiaoming TAO, Director of the Research Institute for Intelligent Wearable Systems (RI-IWEAR), for being appointed as the Consultant of the State Key Laboratory of Advanced Fiber Composite for a 5-year period starting from April 2023. The State Key Laboratory of Advanced Fiber Composite aims to carry out applied basic research, performance tests and technology assessments on the key technologies and common technical problems that needed to be solved for the development of the nation’s advanced fiber composite industry.

Leaders from the Jinjiang Government and Businesses Visited Research Institute for Intelligent Wearable Systems

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) and the city government of Jinjiang have come to an agreement to jointly establish the PolyU-Jinjiang Research Institute to strengthen research collaboration among industry, academia, and research organisations to drive development along the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. The signing ceremony of the agreement was held On 17 February at the PolyU campus.   Before the signing ceremony, the delegation of leaders from the Jinjiang government and businesses visited the Research Institute for Intelligent Wearable Systems (RI-IWEAR). The delegation was warmly welcomed by Prof. Xiaoming TAO, Director of RI-IWEAR, along with other members of the institute.   During the visit, the delegation was given an introduction of the latest developments in intelligent wearable systems. They were also briefed on the institute’s research projects, including the development of smart clothing for healthcare and sports, as well as the use of big data and artificial intelligence in wearable technology.   The delegation expressed great interest in the research being carried out at the institute and saw the potential for collaboration with businesses in Jinjiang. They also spoke highly of PolyU’s reputation as a leading research institution in the field of wearable technology. Overall, the visit was a success in promoting greater collaboration and knowledge sharing between PolyU and businesses in Jinjiang.

RI-IWEAR Hold the Fifth Seminar on 10 February 2023

The Research Institute for Intelligent Wearable Systems (RI-IWEAR) hosted the fifth seminar on 10 February 2023. The hybrid-mode seminar was attended by experts, researchers, and professionals from various fields related to intelligent wearable systems.   The seminar featured talks by two speakers included presentations and discussions. The first speaker, Prof. Li Zhang, from the Department of Surgery at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), presented on the topic of Miniature origami robots and flexible devices for endoluminal applications. The second speaker, Dr Shiming Zhang, an Assistant Professor from the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at The University of Hong Kong (HKU), presented on the topic of Scalable manufacturing of soft bioelectronics: materials, devices, and applications.   Overall, the seminar was a great success, providing a platform for experts and researchers to share their knowledge and experiences on intelligent wearable systems. The Research Institute for Intelligent Wearable Systems plans to organise similar events in the future, to continue promoting research and development in the field.

Congratulation on the Promotion to Chair Professorship

Prof. Feng YAN, Associate Director (Research) of RI-IWEAR, Prof. Zijian ZHENG, Associate Director (External) of RI-IWEAR, and Prof. Gang Li, member of RI-IWEAR were promoted to Chair Professorship in the University with effect from 1 February 2023. The post titles are as listed in the table.    Name   Post Title  Professor Gang LI  Chair Professor of Energy Conversion Technology  Professor Feng YAN  Chair Professor of Organic Electronics  Professor Zijian ZHENG  Chair Professor of Soft Materials and Devices In alphabetical order by surname Congratulation on their promotion.

Differentiating contribution to desolvation ability from molecular structure and composition for screening highly-effective additives to boost reversibility of zinc metal anode

Dr. Jimin FU and collaborators (Prof. Haibo HU from Anhui University, China and etc.) optimize aqueous electrolytes with additives to postpone dendrite formation on Zn metal anode (ZMA) and therefore boost rechargeability of full zinc metal batteries (ZMBs). The research was published in Volume 55, Energy Storage Materials (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ensm.2022.12.030).   Herein, thiourea, urea, and allantoin are investigated as additives to regulate ZnSO4 baseline electrolyte. By combining systematical electrochemical measurements with detailed numerical simulation analysis, two fundamental principles for screening the additives with stronger desolvation ability toward hydrated zinc ions have been identified: (i) in molecular composition, carbonyl (urea) is better than thiocarbonyl (thiourea), and (ii) in molecular structure, bidentate coordination mode (allantoin) outperforms monodentate mode (urea). Consequently, an electrostripping/plating lifespan over 600 h in the Zn||Zn symmetric cell cycling under a depth of discharge up to 5.2% is realized with the optimum allantoin-ZnSO4 hybrid electrolyte, significantly boosting the rechargeability (85.7% capacity retention over 2000 cycles) of assembled ZMA||carbon-cloth@MnO2 full ZMBs than that with additive-free ZnSO4 electrolyte (40.5%).   This work provides closer insights into the correlation between desirable dendrite-free behavior of ZMA and molecular characteristics of additives, and practical guidance for rational selection of more efficient additives to inhibit hydration of Zn2+ and suppress dendrite grown on ZMA.

Prof. Yang CHAI’s Research Recognised in the Top 10 Hong Kong Innovative Technology News 2022

Prof. Yang CHAI, a member of RI-IWEAR, collaborated with the researchers at Yonsei University in Seoul and has developed new bioinspired sensors that may offer a solution by directly adapting different light intensities by the sensors. The human eye adapts to different levels of illumination, from very dark to very bright and vice versa, which allows us to identify objects accurately under a range of lighting conditions. The new sensors aim to mimic this adaptability. This work recognised in the Top 10 Hong Kong Innovative Technology News 2022.   “The Top 10 Hong Kong Innovative Technology News 2022” organized by the Beijing-Hong Kong Academic Exchange Centre has been launched in late November 2022. Universities in Hong Kong were invited to support and provide local science and technology innovation and scientific research news. The Advisory Board composed of academicians in Hong Kong from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering Sciences selected thirty of the most influential news for public voting. In the end, a total of 3,360 netizens was involved in the voting and the results were announced at the end of 2022.   The research was published in Nature Electronics.   The list of the Top 10 Hong Kong Innovative Technology News 2022 (Chinese Only)

Professor Zijian Zheng was Awarded Research Impact Fund 2022/23

Prof. Zijian ZHENG, Associate Director of Research Institute for Intelligent Wearable Systems, as Project Coordinators was supported by the RGC Research Impact Fund 2022/23 with a total amount of $5.55 M (exclusive of on-costs) for the project titled ‘Flexible and Stretchable Batteries for Wearable Applications’ for a period of 48 months.   The Research Impact Fund (RIF) aims to encourage local academics to consider and articulate the potential of research to deliver benefits to the wider community, encourage more impactful and translational research projects; and encourage a greater volume of collaborative research beyond academia (e.g. with government departments, the business sector, the industry, and research institutes). In the 2022/23 Exercise, the RGC received 127 preliminary proposals, 48 proposals were shortlisted for submission as full proposals and 18 proposals were selected for interview. Finally, 13 proposals were supported with a total amount of $75 million (exclusive of on-costs).   Congratulations to Prof. Zheng awarded Research Impact Fund in the 2022/23 Exercise!