Main-stream research areas in COSDAF are among the hot topics of intense current interest worldwide. They are in the field of nanomaterials and nanotechnology focusing on design and synthesis of nanomaterials and novel molecular probes for biotechnology and biomedical applications, renewable and clean energy, and development of devices for energy saving (including solar cells, photovoltaic cells, organic light-emitting diodes and etc.), nanodiamond and superhard coatings. In all these areas, COSDAF has gained international recognition and demonstrated a definitive leading edge in comparison to local counterparts. COSDAF also excels in applied research in the above areas, as evidenced by the awards of ITC and industry projects, and funding from Mainland (863, 973 and NSFC projects), as well as patents filed in the areas of nanomaterials, OLED, diamond, and advanced thin films.
To date, COSDAF members have been awarded 26 US patents with another US patents pending.
COSDAF continues to publish a large number of papers in international SCI journals of high impact factors. In 2014, the center published 96 papers with an average impact factor of 5.69. Since 2000, CityU has published 6 papers (5 from COSDAF) in Science and Nature, which is the highest number among local universities.
Besides the number and impact factor of journal publications, another important indicator for the quality is the number of citations of papers. In this aspect, the citation number of COSDAF papers is consistently very high. According to the data from the Essential Science Indicators*, ISI Web of Knowledge, the papers of COSDAF core members have been cited over 16,000 in recent 10 years (2004-2014).
COSDAF's funding from external research grants in its strategic research areas is impressive both in terms of grant number and dollar values.
