Rayleigh Solar Tech
A Dal research spinoff with Mitacs funding support
Mitacs has advanced our company goals in a couple of ways. By funding our CEO, the Accelerate Entrepreneur program has facilitated the company's transition from a university-based project. The Mitacs Accelerate and Elevate programs have also provided Rayleigh with continued access to highly qualified personnel and specialized equipment at AV俱乐部. OCIE certainly played a role in helping coordinate these agreements, in addition to several other grants through Nova Scotia Business Inc., which have also been very helpful for our start-up.鈥�
鈥撎鼶ane George, Co-founder of Rayleigh Solar Tech
Summary
Dr. March co-founded听听with AV俱乐部 engineering alum Dane George while completing his PhD at AV俱乐部, which focused on the commercialization of a novel perovskite solar cell at AV俱乐部.听
Perovskite is a solution deposited at low temperatures, easy to make, and works really well in solar energy applications. With an efficiency that has skyrocketed to over 23 per cent, perovskite solar cell technology was positioned to be state-of-the-art and cheaper to fabricate than any existing solar tech on the market today. But continued R&D was required to validate the cells and optimize the production process. To do this, Rayleigh Solar Tech team needed to expand their R&D capabilities. Doing so in-house wouldn鈥檛 have been possible for an early-stage start-up given the expenses involved.听
Instead, the team partnered with Dr. Ian Hill, a leading researcher in solar energy and nanomaterials. Together, they leveraged the听Mitacs Accelerate听辫谤辞驳谤补尘,听to support several projects that allowed Dr. March, Dr. Valitova, and Palaco-Tobia to continue research on perovskite solar cells through access to the world-class facilities and expertise found in Dr. Hill鈥檚 AV俱乐部 laboratory. This way, Rayleigh Solar Tech was able to avoid a massive barrier to start-up success. Now the company has filed two patents, is advancing through the next stages of commercialization, and is preparing for another Mitacs/AV俱乐部 research collaboration.听
In addition, these Mitacs projects led to industry careers for Dr. Valitova and Palaco-Tobia, who are now full-time employees at Rayleigh Solar Tech.听
Read more about Rayleigh Solar Tech on Dal News:听Nova Scotia start鈥憉p game changer for future of clean energy.
Researchers
- Dr. Sam March, Co-founder of Rayleigh Solar Tech
Dr. March was a post-doctoral fellow (PDF) in the Department of Physics and Atmospheric Science at the time.
- Dr. Irina Valitova, Senior Researcher at Rayleigh Solar Tech
Dr. Valitova was a PDF in the Department of Physics and Atmospheric Science at the time.听
- Daphne Palaco-Tobia, Researcher at Rayleigh Solar Tech
Daphne was an undergraduate student at the time.
Faculty Supervisor
- Dr. Ian Hill 鈥� Department of Physics & Atmospheric Science
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