The 2024 Future Tech Award winners have been announced, with four projects from National Chung Hsing University (NCHU) receiving accolades. The award-winning teams, led by Distinguished Professors Ying-Chih Lai (Department of Materials Science and Engineering), Ming-Chun Lu (Department of Environmental Engineering), Associate Professor Lian-Wang Lee (Department of Mechanical Engineering), and Distinguished Professor Ping-Shan Lai (Department of Chemistry), cover advanced materials, net-zero technologies, medical devices, and biotechnology, showcasing NCHU’s dual strengths in scientific innovation and industrial applications.

Distinguished Professor Ying-Chih Lai’s Development of Large-Area Self-Powered Robotic Skin
Professor Ying-Chih Lai of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering developed a "large-area, deformable, multi-channel, battery-free robotic skin." This touch-sensitive panel can freely deform and self-generate electricity through nanogenerator technology, based on natural static electricity principles. The material allows for flexibility and eliminates electrical interference, a significant breakthrough from previous technologies, enabling large-scale multi-point tactile sensing panels. Potential applications for this innovation include interactive tactile panels, robotic skins, smart insoles, and deformable keyboards.

Distinguished Professor Ming-Chun Lu’s Eco-Friendly Carbon Capture Technology
Professor Ming-Chun Lu from the Department of Environmental Engineering has developed an "innovative fluidized bed homogeneous crystallization technology for capturing and recycling CO₂ from flue gas." This process uses alkaline solutions to capture CO₂ at ambient temperature and pressure, which is then crystallized into high-quality calcium carbonate without generating wastewater. The resulting product, light calcium carbonate, can be recycled as an industrial additive in papermaking, rubber, plastics, and coatings. This breakthrough addresses land-use and sludge issues while producing valuable materials without increasing carbon emissions.

Lu emphasized that the technology’s key innovation lies in its minimal environmental footprint and its potential to use various calcium sources, such as brine from seawater desalination or incineration ash, to produce high-quality calcium carbonate.

Distinguished Professor Ping-Shan Lai’s Efficient Hyaluronic Acid Grafting Technology
Professor Ping-Shan Lai from the Department of Chemistry developed a "high-efficiency hyaluronic acid (HA) grafting technology" with applications in the biotech and pharmaceutical industries. His patented technique breaks through the traditional 30% efficiency barrier of hydrophobic steroid grafting, achieving a grafting efficiency of up to 90%. This advancement opens new avenues for developing HA-based macromolecular drugs and immunomodulation applications, presenting significant opportunities for pharmaceutical innovation and industrial utilization.

Lai mentioned that this HA grafting technology has already been applied in long-term collaborations with domestic pharmaceutical companies, focusing on new drug development. Research on arthritis, acute lung injury, and immune regulation has been published in several international journals. Additionally, the spinoff company Powin Biomedical Co., Ltd. is collaborating with Lai’s team to develop cancer vaccines, using a dual-pathway adjuvant strategy. Preclinical animal studies have shown high safety and efficacy for the adjuvants, and Powin Biomedical Co., Ltd. plans to list on the Emerging Stock Board next year, injecting new energy into Taiwan's biotech and pharmaceutical industries.

Related Articles: https://www2.nchu.edu.tw/en-news-detail/id/959