CityU secures HK$11m in collaborative research fund
The project titled “Bio-inspired surface engineering for phase change heat transfer: From fundamental understanding to practical applications” led by Prof. WANG Zuankai has been granted HK$5.5 million under the Collaborative Research Fund Scheme (CRF) of the Research Grants Council. The project team will focus on developing a general bio-inspired approach to fundamentally change and optimise the phase transitions between solid, liquid and vapour for enhanced heat transfer by controlling surface morphology and chemistry, in response to the pressing need for techniques to enhance heat transfer in various high heat flux devices in industries such as microelectronics, nuclear power plants, water desalination and aerospace. It is hoped that “the project will help establish important scientific ground for breakthroughs in interfacial sciences and thermal engineering, and hence assist in the design of robust techniques to address some of the energy challenges facing us today”, Prof. WANG said. The result of the collaborative research project is also expected to have a significant impact on energy saving and security.
Over the past four years, research work led by Prof. WANG has been published in high-impact journals such as Science, Science Advances, Nature Physics, Nature Communications, Physical Review Letters, ACS Nano, and Advanced Functional Materials. He has also set a Guinness World Record for his research on the development of novel water repellent surfaces, by reducing the contact time between a liquid drop and a solid surface by 80%.
Selected press coverage:
(23 Jul 2018) 城大獲資助逾千萬 展2項新研究 [Hong Kong Commercial Daily]
(23 Jul 2018) 香港城市大學獲資助逾千萬 展2項新研究 [Hong Kong China News Agency]
(23 Jul 2018) 仙人掌豬籠草啟發 城大研發新材料 [Sing Tao Daily]