SHENZHEN, China, March 6, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK) just lately introduced that Professor Edwin Tso Chi-Yan, Associate Dean (Internationalization and Outreach) of the School of Energy and Environment and co-founder of i2Cool Limited, will likely be promoted to Chair Professor of Energy and Sustainability in July this 12 months. This educational honor not solely highlights Professor Tso’s excellent achievements in constructing vitality effectivity and inexperienced expertise but additionally displays his excessive recognition in the worldwide educational neighborhood.
To date, the electricity-free cooling expertise developed by Professor Tso’s analysis staff at i2Cool has been commercialized and deployed in over 30 cities and areas worldwide, with greater than 500 accomplished initiatives.
01 Academic Excellence: Recognizing Technological Contributions
In 2025, Professor Tso was elected as a Member of the Hong Kong Young Academy of Sciences and awarded the National Science Fund for Excellent Young Scholars in recognition of his distinctive contributions to scientific innovation and expertise commercialization. In 2024, he acquired the Hong Kong Engineering Science and Technology Award from the Hong Kong Academy of Engineering Sciences and was elected as a Young Fellow of the Academy. The similar 12 months, he was appointed as a Research Fellow by the Research Grants Council (RGC), affirming his educational management in constructing vitality applied sciences.
This recognition is not any coincidence. Since 2020, Professor Tso has been constantly listed amongst Stanford University’s “World’s Top 2% Scientists.”
His educational affect is obvious not solely in honors but additionally in tangible analysis outcomes. Professor Tso has revealed over 100 papers in main worldwide journals, together with Science, Nature Sustainability, Nature Communications, and Science Advances. Notably, his groundbreaking analysis on cooling ceramics was revealed in Science in 2023, drawing important worldwide consideration.
Beyond academia, Professor Tso has filed almost 20 patents, efficiently translating these revolutionary applied sciences into commercially viable merchandise.
02 Research Breakthroughs: From Nature-Inspired Discoveries to Industrial Innovation
Professor Tso’s analysis staff drew key inspiration from the Saharan silver ant, whose distinctive hair constructions allow distinctive photo voltaic reflectivity and mid-infrared emissivity, permitting it to survive excessive desert warmth. Inspired by this, the staff built-in supplies science, optics, and thermodynamics to develop multi-component, multi-scale nanoparticle supplies succesful of effectively reflecting photo voltaic radiation in the 0.25–2.5 μm vary whereas emitting thermal radiation throughout the 8–13 μm atmospheric window.
The core of Passive Radiative Cooling (PRC) expertise lies in leveraging excessive photo voltaic reflectance and mid-infrared emissivity to replicate daylight and radiate warmth into outer house, facilitating pure cooling of surfaces with out electrical energy or refrigerants. This represents a genuinely zero-energy cooling answer.
03 i2Cool: Translating Research into Global Impact
In 2015, when Professor Tso started finding out the cooling mechanism of the silver ant, it was troublesome to foresee that this discovery would lead to a climate-tech enterprise contributing to international decarbonization. In 2021, underneath CityUHK’s HK Tech 300 innovation and entrepreneurship program, Professor Tso co-founded i2Cool Limited with Dr. Martin Zhu.
The firm’s first commercialized product, the electricity-free cooling coating (i2Coating), achieves up to 95% photo voltaic reflectivity and excessive mid-infrared emissivity, surpassing conventional thermal insulation coatings that wrestle to exceed 90% photo voltaic reflectance. i2Coating was formally launched in September 2022 for constructing purposes, delivering sub-ambient cooling efficiency by means of efficient photo voltaic reflection and thermal radiation.
04 Global Deployment: Technology Implementation and Measurable Impact
To date, i2Cool’s passive radiative cooling expertise has been deployed in over 30 international locations and areas, masking greater than 800,000 sq. meters worldwide throughout over 500 initiatives. The firm’s merchandise have saved almost 16 million kWh of electrical energy and diminished carbon emissions by over 15 million kilograms.
The expertise’s utility vary continues to develop. In addition to the preliminary i2Coating, i2Cool has developed electricity-free cooling merchandise reminiscent of i2Membrane and i2Film, addressing overheating challenges in rooftops and glass façades. The expertise is being applied in notable initiatives, together with Dubai Mall, Hong Kong Coliseum, and volunteer stations for the fifteenth National Games of China.
05 Future Outlook: Leading Research and Industry Transformation
With Professor Tso’s promotion to Chair Professor of Energy and Sustainability, he’ll lead additional explorations in electricity-free cooling applied sciences as a senior scholar in the School of Energy and Environment. Supported by Hong Kong’s Research, Academic and Industry Sectors One-plus (RAISe+) scheme, i2Cool is growing three next-generation supplies: Passive Radiative Cooling Ceramics (PRCCs), Passive Radiative Cooling Pavement supplies (PRCP), and Biodegradable Dual-Mode Thermal Management Textiles (Bio-DTMTs). These improvements purpose to present complete electricity-free cooling options for buildings, roads, and private thermal administration.
i2Cool’s long-term imaginative and prescient is to set up a full electricity-free cooling ecosystem centered on superior materials science and diversified business purposes. In the context of international “dual carbon” targets, the corporate goals to leverage cutting-edge innovation to contribute meaningfully to vitality effectivity and carbon discount worldwide
CONTACT: i2Cool Limited, [email protected]