Ms. Yi-Ling Yang and Mr. Yu-Sheng Yu from Prof. Kevin C.-W. Wu’s lab and Ms. Tsai-Hsuan Chen and Jhen-Cih Wu from Prof. Chia-Hong Hou’s lab (Institute of Environmental Engineering) won the first place in the 2nd International Nanotechnology Olympia (INO) Domestic Trial.

The first International Nano Technology Olympia (INO) was held in Tehran, Iran, from April 10 to 16, 2018, and the second is expected to be hosted by Oman in April 2021. The theme is environmental sustainability. The competition includes the mixed team challenge, scientific achievements display and business model. To elect the national team, our university cooperated with the Ministry of Education, Academia Sinica and Cheng Kung University to organize the domestic trial. The content is modeled on the real INO competition mode. In the end, the team Professionals of Integrated Operation in Nano-materials, Energy and Environmental Resources, which belonged to Yi-Ling, Yang and Yu-Sheng, Yu, was chosen as the national team and won a scholarship of 200,000 NTD.

Professionals of Integrated Operation in Nano-materials, Energy and Environmental Resources is a team composed of Yi-Ling, Yang and Yu-Sheng, Yu from the Department of Chemical Engineering of NTU, Tsai-Hsuan Chen and Jhen-Cih Wu from the Graduate Institute of Environmental Engineering. The instructors are Professor Kevin C.-W. Wu from the Department of Chemical Engineering and Professor Chia-Hung, Hou from the Graduate Institute of Environmental Engineering. Their team name can be abbreviated into PIONEER. The topic they presented was Green Sponge Put to Test: Novel Nanomaterials Combines with Modular Electrochemical System against the Water Supply System in Off-grid Area and Emergent Condition. Green sponge represents the nanoporous material they used: Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs), which has a high specific surface area and can adsorb various substances and is used in the field of green energy. They applied MOF to a water treatment system containing modular electrocatalysis and electrosorption system powered by solar cells. They hope it can solve the water supply problem in areas without power grids, and have done a lot of evaluations on its commercialization, which has been affirmed by the review committees from many institutions such as the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Education, and the National Health Research Institutes.

The 2^nd International Nanotechnology Olympiad Domestic Trial was held for 3 days from September 12 to 14, 2020 in Just Sleep at NTU. The theme for the 2^nd INO was on environmental sustainability. There is a total of 8 teams from all around the country to compete for the final winner to represent Taiwan for the International Nanotechnology Olympiad which will be held in Oman on Jan 10-14, 2021. The domestic trial is similar to the real INO competition where it includes mixed team challenge, presentation and demonstration of team’s nanotechnology as well as business model. Finally, the winner is chosen based on “Innovation, Science and Technologies, Business Plan”.

It is proudly to announced that Team Fearless which is guided by Professor Tung Kuo-Lun won the 3^rd place in this INO domestic trial. Team Fearless is composed of Zhen, Wang, Shih-Hsiang, Chen, Sher Ling, Lee and Yu-Rou, Lai from the Department of Chemical Engineering of NTU. The nanotechnology presented by Team Fearless is about “Innovative Rapid Temperature Swing Adsorption (RTSA) Process For CO₂ Capture”. This nanotechnology proposed using hollow copper fiber to replace traditional hollow fiber or copper rod for the adsorption/desorption of carbon dioxide in order to effectively capture carbon dioxide. This module uses waste heat from industrial area as a heat source thus achieving environmental sustainability.