Professor Sam Hsu’s Team Wins Best International Invention Award at AEII 2025

The School of Energy and Environment (SEE) proudly congratulates Prof. Sam Hsu, Associate Professor at SEE, and his PhD students Shuang Wang and Cong Jiang, for winning the Best International Invention & Innovation Award by the National Research Council of Thailand (NRCT) at the 5th Asia Exhibition of Innovations and Inventions (AEII), held in Hong Kong on 4–5 December 2025.

This prestigious award recognizes inventions of exceptional innovation value and technical robustness. The winning technology, the Bio-Photoelectrochemical Tandem Reactor (BPTR), integrates a microbial bioelectrode for wastewater purification with a photoelectrode for producing hydrogen under neutral pH conditions. This dual-reactor architecture marks a significant advancement in sustainable water–energy systems, addressing global challenges in low-energy wastewater treatment and decentralized hydrogen generation.

Through innovations in biotic–abiotic interface engineering, electron-transfer optimization at solid–liquid surfaces, and enhanced system stability under wastewater conditions, Prof. Hsu’s laboratory has demonstrated a scalable and commercially promising platform with potential applications.

This remarkable achievement reinforces CityUHK’s leadership in translational innovation and further strengthens SEE’s international reputation in cutting-edge research.