A multi-disciplinary team was established for a research project on “Smart Solar Energy Harvesting, Storage and Utilization” granted by the Research Grant Council’s (RGC) Theme-based Research Scheme (TRS), with a total project fund of HK$76 million. The project team has obtained at least 7 world-record performance technologies, published more than 210 international journal papers and filed 10 technology patents, putting Hong Kong on the map of advanced energy research.
A commercial-scale facility for the fabrication of CIGS solar cells and modules was constructed and the technology was transferred to a start-up company, with a production capacity of 2MW/year. A technique named “non-stoichiometric acid-base reaction (NABR)” was also established to significantly improve the stability of MAPbI3 perovskite thin films, which sheds light on the development of highly efficient perovskites solar cells with low cost and high stability. Furthermore, an innovative material – micro-fibrous red phosphorus – was discovered to make clean hydrogen fuel by simply exposing water to sunlight.
