Prof. Yi-Chun Lu, Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical and Automation Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) and her research team recently reported a flow cathode that exploits highly concentrated sulphur-impregnated carbon composite, to achieve high catholyte volumetric capacity, battery energy density, cycle life (>100 cycles), columbic efficiency (>90%) and energy efficiency (>80%). Their approach achieved the highest catholyte volumetric capacity (294 ampere-hour per liter) reported to date, which is five times that of vanadium catholyte and 3–6 times that of the demonstrated polysulphide flow catholyte. Combining the sulphur flow catholyte with a lithium anode, they achieved energy density as high as 654 watt-hour per liter, which is one of the highest energy densities reported for lithium flow batteries. The findings have recently been published in Nature Communications, the well renowned international journal in the field of biological, physical, chemical and earth sciences. 

As demands for energy grows and the effects of global climate change becomes more acute, the need to replace traditional fossil fuel with alternative energy sources that are both clean and renewable also becomes urgent. Energy storage system is a critical enabling factor for deploying unstable and intermittent renewable power sources. Redox flow batteries (RFBs) are promising technologies for large-scale electricity storage, owing to its design flexibility in decoupling power and energy capacity. However, the RFBs have been suffering from low energy density, which significantly decreases its competitiveness for both stationary and transportation applications. 

Prof. Lu’s research team approach creates effective interfaces between the insulating sulphur and conductive carbon network and offers a promising direction to develop high-energy-density flow batteries. 

‘Through this research, we promote high-energy-density redox flow batteries and strive to achieve efficient storage technology for renewable energy sources.’ said Prof. Lu. 

Reference: Chen HN, Zou QL, Liang ZJ, Liu H, Li Q & Lu YC (2015) Sulphur-impregnated flow cathode to enable high-energy-density lithium flow batteries. Nature Communications 6(5877). DOI: 10.1038/ncomms6877

http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2015/150107/ncomms6877/full/ncomms6877.html

Prof. Yi-Chun Lu (Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical and Automation Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong) and her research team recently reported a flow cathode that exploits highly concentrated sulphur-impregnated carbon composite, to achieve high catholyte volumetric capacity (five times that of all-vanadium flow batteries and 3–6 times that of the demonstrated lithium-polysulphide approaches) with long cycle life (>100 cycles), high columbic efficiency (>90%) and energy efficiency (>80%).

Energy storage system is a critical enabling factor for deploying unstable and intermittent renewable power sources, such as solar and wind power sources. Redox flow batteries (RFBs) are promising technologies for large-scale electricity storage, owing to its design flexibility in decoupling power and energy capacity. However, the RFBs have been suffering from low energy density, which significantly decreases its competitiveness for both stationary and transportation applications. Their approach creates effective interfaces between the insulating sulphur and conductive carbon network and offers a promising direction to develop high-energy-density flow batteries. The findings have recently been published in Nature Communications, the well-renowned international journal in the field of biological, physical, chemical and Earth sciences.

Biomedical engineering technologies are pushing forward the advancement of clinical care and benefiting patients at large. To facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration between the Faculty of Engineering and the Faculty of Medicine has recently established the Chow Yuk Ho Technology Centre for Innovative Medicine (the Centre). The opening ceremony was held on 30 January, officiated by Ms Therese P.F. Chow, Solicitor, Notary Public and China Appointed Attesting Officer; Miss Janet Wong, Commissioner for Innovation and Technology; Prof. Joseph J.Y. Sung, Vice-Chancellor and President, CUHK; Prof. Fanny M.C. Cheung and Prof. T.F. Fok, Pro-Vice-Chancellors and Vice-Presidents, CUHK; Prof. Francis K.L. Chan, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, CUHK; Prof. Irwin K.C. King, Associate Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, CUHK; and Prof. Philip W.Y. Chiu, Director of the Chow Yuk Ho Technology Centre for Innovative Medicine, CUHK. Over 100 guests from the medical and engineering fields were present.

Several outcomes of revolutionary research by the Faculty of Medicine have been put into clinical practice to improve care for patients. For example, the “Eagle Claw”, an endoscopic suturing device capable of performing suture plication inside the gastrointestinal lumen, can reduce surgical risk induced by invasive surgical procedure; and the diagnostic services for fetal Down syndrome based on the technology of non-invasive prenatal diagnosis using the plasma of pregnant women have been available in the US, Europe, mainland China and many other regions around the world since 2011.

To further sustain innovative research in biomedical engineering focusing on clinical application, the Centre serves as a platform for engineers and clinicians from the Faculty of Engineering and the Faculty of Medicine to encourage academic exchange and collaboration.

In his welcome address, Prof. Joseph JY Sung stated, “CUHK has leading strengths in the Faculty of Engineering and the Faculty of Medicine, with strong track records in biomedical engineering as well as clinical researches. Through interdisciplinary collaboration between the Faculty of Engineering and the Faculty of Medicine, the Chow Yuk Ho Technology Centre for Innovative Medicine aims to serve as a platform for engineers and clinicians to work together in enhancing knowledge transfer of innovative technologies into clinical practice for the benefit of our patients. ”

Miss Janet Wong agreed the establishment of the Centre is a brave and much needed move, “Convergence and cooperation of different scientific disciplines have become far more critical than ever before to generate innovation and transform the scenes of new technology development and medical practices - a philosophy much agreed by the Hong Kong Government.”

“The Centre focuses on three research areas in biomedical engineering – Robotics, Imaging and Biosensing, including nano-robotics, innovative neuro-imaging and non-invasive medical monitoring,” Prof. Philip W.Y. Chiu further elaborated, “We aim to transfer various innovative technologies into clinical equipment and practice, so as to enable a more effective and up-to-date treatment for patients in need.”

The establishment of the Centre is made possible by the generous donation from Ms Therese P.F. Chow, in memory of her father, Mr. Chow Yuk Ho, his philanthropic efforts and in recognition of the contributions and achievement in medical sciences and academic development of Prof. Joseph J.Y. Sung.

At the initial stage, the Centre consists of a basic research laboratory and an animal research laboratory to facilitate important basic researches between the two Faculties, as well as preclinical experiments and tests.

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