Harvesting sunlight to address energy and environmental challenges has been fascinating and long sought-after in building a sustainable society. One tangible example is the maintenance of cleaner indoor environment by degrading air pollutants via photocatalysis. The key to an efficient and effective photocatalytic process is the design and development of good photocatalysts which represents a hot research area. Dr. Jin Shang Group in School of Energy and Environment has contributed to this endeavour and some recent results were published as back cover in the Flagship journal of the Royal Society of Chemistry – Chemical Science. In an edge article entitled “Isocyanate Group-Functionalized Zeolitic Imidazolate Framework-8 (ZIF-8) for Visible Light Photocatalytic Degradation of Gaseous Formaldehyde”, a facile thermal treatment strategy is initiated to convert one of the most well-known porous metal-organic framework, i.e., ZIF-8, to visible light driven photocatalyst exhibiting excellent performance in formaldehyde degradation. This strategy could unleash the potential of the design and development of MOF-based photocatalysts with broad-spectrum responses for efficient air purification operations. Given a myriad of porous MOFs created and documented by chemists in the past 30 years, this work may unlock a new toolbox for scientists and engineers in the field of photocatalysis to explore and develop next-generation photocatalysts.
Environmental scientists at City University of Hong Kong (CityU) have proposed a new pathway for the formation of sulfate, providing new insights for improving haze prediction to address air pollution problems.
Springer Nature recently published new journal, “Circular Economy and Sustainability”, to enhance the concerns on circular economy and sustainability issues in environmental research, and Dr Liang Dong is appointed as the editorial board member (associate editors). The journal aims to bring a new approach of the key concepts of circular economy and sustainability, by combining the scientific disciplines of economy, management, engineering, technology, environment, and society. The editorial team include the world-famous scholars in the field, mainly from Europe and USA, Dr Dong is one of the four scholars from Mainland China and Hong Kong, together with Prof. Yong Geng from Shanghai Jiaotong University, Prof. Zengwei Yuan from Nanjing University, and Prof. Kee-hung LAI from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
As one of the largest international conferences in waste management field, the 15th International Conference on Waste Management and Technology (ICWMT15) was organized by UNEP, Basel Convention Regional Center for Asia and Pacific and Tsinghua University, between June 28th to 30th, 2020. The theme of this year was zero-waste cities promotion in the globe. Due to the covid-19, the conference was organized online with more than 4500 participants. Affiliated with ICWMT15, Dr Dong organized session entitled “Eco-industrial development support zero-waste cities: a global perspective”, and invited scholars from China, Japan, and South Korea to share the up-to-date progress in this field. The session was awarded to “Excellent Session Award”, with over 2800 participants.
The National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) and the Dutch Research Council (NWO) have jointly awarded a major grant to an international consortium, headed by the Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) in The Netherlands, and Peking University (PKU) in China, for collaborative research on sustainable, inclusive cities. Besides the EUR and PKU, the consortium consists of Delft University of Technology and the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL) in The Netherlands and, City University of Hong Kong (Dr. Dong's team) and Tongji University in China.
Elsevier recently published new journal, “Cleaner Environmental Systems”, as a critical response to the emerging concerns on sustainability issues in environmental research, and Dr Liang Dong is appointed as the Associate Editor. The journal aims to address the related topics as well as methodological advances in the environmental and sustainability assessment of processes and products, from a holistic perspective. The editorial team include the world-famous scholars in the field, from Europe, USA and Asia.
Energy conversion is an essential topic in energy and environmental research. The conversion efficiency and device’s stability are the most significant concerns for sustainable development.
Dr. Patrick Lee, Associate Dean (Undergraduate Studies), was invited to be a guest speaker of the RTHK TV programme "Tutor Online - Guard Against Novel Coronavirus" on 15 April 2020.
Dr. Lin Zhang, Assistant Professor, was invited to be a speaker for the IAEE podcast series of International Association of Energy Economics. In the podcast, he gave a talk on “COVID19 is changing the emission trajectories in China and at global level”.
