TWO final-year Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) chemical engineering students bagged the top prize at the 2008 National Research and Innovation Com-petition (NRIC).
Using carbon nanotubes, metal-oxide and polimer, Fan Mun Sing, 25, and Nor Khonisah Daud, 23, developed an energy-saving supercapacitor that saves 10 times more energy than existing supercapacitors to win the competition's Best Project Award and received a trophy and RM5,000.
Fan said he hoped the prototype would be useful in the electronics industry and further promote sustainable energy and development.
“The materials used to produce the supercapacitor (carbon nanotubes made from natural gas, metal-oxide and polimer) are very cost-efficient and not harmful to nature.
“The energy stored in the supercapacitor can power appliances in an eco-friendly manner.
“For example, by using the supercapacitor to power vehicles, petrol will not be needed,” he said during a press conference at USM’s Dewan Utama Pelajar.
Winning the Motorola Special Award, a trophy and RM4,000 was Universiti Teknologi Malaysia’s team with its mobile Blue-tooth remote control.
Student Mas Ayu Shafie said the remote control used the Bluetooth profile to control a computer's mouse pointer, keyboard stroke and several applications.
Universiti Darul Iman Malaysia won the Best Industrial Design and Technology Award while Universiti Malaysia Perlis won the Best Invention and Innovation Award.
Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia won the Social Impact Policy Award (Information Tech-nology and Communication, and Social Transformation and Creative Arts).
The three teams each won RM3,000 and a trophy.
The four-day competition and exhibition held at USM featured 145 projects by 19 higher learning institutions and was organised by the university’s Student Representative Council in collaboration with the Higher Education Ministry. Motorola was the main sponsor. - TheStar.com.my
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