A joint-study led by a team of marine ecologists from City University of Hong Kong (CityU) has found that the eco-engineered tiles can increase habitat complexity on seawalls in Hong Kong, thereby effectively enhancing the marine biodiversity. The Hong Kong study is part of a global research project on the relationship between habitat complexity and marine biodiversity on human-built marine structures.

While the power conversion efficiency of perovskite solar cells (PVSCs) – a future of solar cells – has already greatly improved in the past decade, the problems of instability and potential environmental impact are yet to be overcome. Recently, scientists from City University of Hong Kong (CityU) have developed a novel method which can simultaneously tackle the leakage of lead from PVSCs and the stability issue without compromising efficiency, paving the way for real-life application of perovskite photovoltaic technology.

Face masks have become an important tool in fighting against the COVID-19 pandemic. However, improper use or disposal of masks may lead to “secondary transmission”. A research team from City University of Hong Kong (CityU) has successfully produced graphene masks with an anti-bacterial efficiency of 80%, which can be enhanced to almost 100% with exposure to sunlight for around 10 minutes.

Four outstanding scholars from City University of Hong Kong (CityU) have been selected as awardees of the inaugural Senior Research Fellow Scheme (SRFS) and Research Fellow Scheme (RFS) under the Research Grants Council (RGC), being granted a sum of more than HK$23 million as research funding. The acknowledgement of their research achievements is testimony to CityU’s research strengths and recognition of the University’s efforts in fostering interdisciplinary research.

Recently, with the state-of-the-art neutron scattering instrumentation and molecular dynamic simulations, an international research team, led by physicists from City University of Hong Kong (CityU), has demonstrated the existence of high-frequency transverse phonons in metallic glass for the first time. Their findings also suggest that the atomic structure correlates with its atomic dynamics, providing new insight for understanding the atomic structure-dynamics relationship in disordered materials.

Lead halide perovskite semiconductors exhibit superb optoelectronic properties and have been broadly applied in research fields like solar cells, photoelectric sensors and laser devices. However, the weakness of easy degradation in water hinders the application of perovskite semiconductors. A research team led by scientists from City University of Hong Kong (CityU) has developed a novel synthesis method of perovskite materials to overcome this problem.