Research Stories

CityUHK research team addressed a challenge for scientists for over a decade with creative material science solutions. The team demonstrated an effective strategy to enhance the long-term stability of perovskite-organic tandem solar cells, which can be mass-produced at a speed comparable to newspaper printing, with a daily output of up to 1,000 solar panels.

The Hong Kong Institute for Clean Energy (HKICE) at CityUHK organised the HKICE Summit on Next-Generation Green Energy Materials and Applications, which took place between 13 and 14 June 2024, to explore innovative solutions in green energy production, storage, and utilisation.

Five research projects from CityUHK were granted funds from the HKSAR Government’s RAISe+ Scheme. This demonstrates CityUHK’s commitment to promoting excellence in high-quality research and innovation, driving the transformation of the University’s world-class scientific research into applications, thereby creating commercial and social value.

A few years ago, Dr. Chi-on Ng, a graduate of the Department of Chemistry at City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK), together with his team, developed a new type of photo-sensor that can effectively monitor oxygen concentration in seawater and reduce the monitoring cost. The team subsequently established a start-up company called “NerOcean”.

Zinc-nitrate batteries are a primary non-rechargeable energy storage system that utilizes the redox potential difference between zinc and nitrate ions to store and release electrical energy. A research team co-led by chemists from City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK) have developed a high-performance rechargeable zinc-nitrate/ethanol battery by introducing an innovative catalyst. They successfully designed and synthesized an efficient tetraphenylporphyrin (tpp) modified heterophase rhodium-copper alloy metallene (RhCu M-tpp). This bifunctional catalyst exhibits remarkable capabilities in both the electrocatalytic nitrate reduction reaction (NO3RR) and ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR) in a neutral medium, overcoming the monofunctional limitations of traditional metal-based solid catalysts and providing a valuable reference for the design of sustainable energy storage in the future.

G-quadruplexes (G4), which are special structures in DNA and RNA that play a crucial role in cells, have been associated with cancers and neurological diseases. A research team from City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK) recently built a new platform to select L-RNA aptamers that can target functional G4 structures. They found an L-RNA aptamer called L-Apt12-6 that binds specifically to a specific topology of G4 structure: parallel G4. The findings may be beneficial for developing new drugs and treatments for G4-related diseases, like cancers.