Lighting / en Renewable energy research, clean-tech startups from 91Թ take centre stage /news/renewable-energy-research-clean-tech-startups-u-t-take-centre-stage <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Renewable energy research, clean-tech startups from 91Թ take centre stage</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2017-04-17-summit-nanoleaf-display.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=ax0rdxkl 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2017-04-17-summit-nanoleaf-display.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=WvNX4dNy 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2017-04-17-summit-nanoleaf-display.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=Pz8vBycT 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2017-04-17-summit-nanoleaf-display.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=ax0rdxkl" alt="photo of conference attendees checking out Nanoleaf display"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>lanthierj</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2017-04-17T09:16:38-04:00" title="Monday, April 17, 2017 - 09:16" class="datetime">Mon, 04/17/2017 - 09:16</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Nanoleaf was just one of the 91Թ startups at the Toronto Sustainability Summit (all photos by Johnny Guatto)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/chris-sorensen" hreflang="en">Chris Sorensen</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Christopher Sorensen</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/entrepreneurship" hreflang="en">Entrepreneurship</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/innovation" hreflang="en">Innovation</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/startups" hreflang="en">Startups</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/alumni" hreflang="en">Alumni</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/sustainability" hreflang="en">Sustainability</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/nanoleaf" hreflang="en">Nanoleaf</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/phantin" hreflang="en">Phantin</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/vive-crop-protection" hreflang="en">Vive Crop Protection</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/nanotechnology" hreflang="en">Nanotechnology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/lighting" hreflang="en">Lighting</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-subheadline field--type-string-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Subheadline</div> <div class="field__item">Toronto Sustainability Summit </div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>If Silicon Valley is where big minds fixate on small problems – a better way to hail a taxi or swap photos on your smartphone – then the 91Թ may soon be known as the place where the world’s biggest, most intractable issues are solved.&nbsp;</p> <p>That was the underlying message at 91Թ’s recent Toronto Sustainability Summit, held at the MaRS Centre in downtown Toronto.&nbsp;</p> <p>The sold-out event brought together leading 91Թ researchers, key government officials and senior industry executives to discuss ways to work together to tackle planet-threatening climate change. Reza Moridi, Ontario’s minister of research, innovation and science, took the opportunity to announce a new, $7 million competition designed to develop breakthrough technologies to help the province’s industrial plants reduce greenhouse gas emissions.&nbsp;</p> <h3><u><a href="/news/u-t-brings-city-together-toronto-sustainability-summit">Read more about the summit</a></u></h3> <p>“Universities have a crucial role to play,” said <strong>Meric Gertler</strong>, 91Թ’s president, offering a long list of research areas, from biofuels research to environmental law, where 91Թ excels. “In fact, among universities worldwide, I was delighted to recently discover that 91Թ is the seventh leading producer of research and scholarship in environmental research and environmental sciences –&nbsp;and we’re third in North America behind Berkeley and Harvard.”</p> <p>Over the past three years alone, 91Թ attracted more than $300 million in funding for clean technology and renewable energy research. The university boasts more than 550 faculty working in the space, including 11 Canada Research Chairs.&nbsp;</p> <p>The breadth of 91Թ’s sustainability research, focusing on subjects both large and small, was on full display at the summit.&nbsp;</p> <p><u>Professor&nbsp;<a href="/news/five-visions-future-energy-science-literacy-week-panel"><strong>David Zingg</strong>, the director of the 91Թ Institute for Aerospace Studies</a>,</u> talked about trying to overcome the challenges of reducing airplane emissions – namely the sky-high price of developing new aircraft types – by applying high-fidelity aerodynamic shape optimization to aircraft designs.</p> <p>At the other end of the spectrum, <u><a href="/news/10000-greenhouses-professor-david-sinton-awarded-ewr-steacie-memorial-fellowship"><strong>David Sinton</strong>, a professor in the Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering</a></u>, explained how the study of small-scale fluid dynamics is yielding big insights by turning harmful carbon dioxide into useful products like fuels.&nbsp;</p> <p>91Թ is not just creating climate change and sustainability knowledge. It’s implementing it, too. Many of 91Թ’s researchers are working in partnership with industry or launching their own companies. Some 14 startups in clean tech and renewable energy were launched&nbsp;over the past three years.</p> <p><strong>Cynthia Goh</strong> is&nbsp;the founding director of <u><a href="http://www.impactcentre.ca/">91Թ’s Impact Centre development hub</a>, </u>the academic director of<u><a href="http://entrepreneurs.utoronto.ca/"> 91Թ Entrepreneurship</a></u> and&nbsp;a professor of chemistry in the Faculty of Arts &amp; Science. She cited one young one company with a potentially bright future that she co-founded with <strong>Cheng Lu</strong>. It’s called Phantin and it makes nano-coating that repels dust from solar panels, boosting their energy production.&nbsp;</p> <h3><u><a href="/news/here-comes-sun-phantin">Read &nbsp;more about Phantin</a></u></h3> <p>The hurdles new clean-tech companies face are particularly daunting. Alumnus<u> <a href="/news/meet-darren-anderson-vive-crop-protection"><strong>Darren Anderson</strong> is the founding president of Vive Crop Protection</a></u>, which uses nanotechnology to improve the delivery of fertilizer and pesticides to farmers’ crops. Anderson told the panel it takes far longer to build a clean-tech company than one based on a smartphone app.&nbsp;</p> <p>“We launched our first product literally a month before our tenth anniversary,” said Anderson, who started Vive in 2006 from 91Թ’s chemistry department.&nbsp;</p> <p>Clean-tech also tends to be expensive, which can turn&nbsp;off venture capital, or VC, investors. &nbsp;</p> <p>“Anytime I say we’re a clean-tech company that’s focused on sustainability, the VC just cringes,” said <strong>Gimmy Chu</strong>, the CEO of <u><a href="https://nanoleaf.me/en/">green lighting company Nanoleaf </a></u>and another 91Թ alum. “So the question is: how do you [build] the business model?”&nbsp;</p> <p>Nanoleaf’s solution: make a LED light bulb that’s both eye-catching and two times more efficient than those already on the market – and then follow it up with modular lighting panels that look more like art installations than light fixtures.&nbsp;</p> <h3><u><a href="/news/federal-government-backs-three-u-t-startups-and-their-clean-tech-innovations">Read more about Nanoleaf</a></u></h3> <p>Fortunately, there’s an expanding universe of accelerators and incubators on the 91Թ campus to help guide today’s budding entrepreneurs. One of those programs is the Rotman School of Management’s Creative Destruction Lab. The nine-month program pairs startups with experienced technology entrepreneurs and investors to help them scale up their businesses.&nbsp;</p> <p><u><a href="http://www.rotman.utoronto.ca/FacultyAndResearch/Faculty/FacultyBios/Blundell"><strong>Richard Blundell</strong>, an adjunct professor at Rotman</a>,</u>&nbsp;said the biggest challenge facing startups in the clean-tech space is seldom technology-related. Rather, it’s finding an innovative way to succeed in a crowded marketplace.</p> <p>“If the business doesn’t make money,” said Blundell, “then it will fail.”</p> <p><img alt="photo of panel at summit" class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__4265 img__view_mode__media_original attr__format__media_original" src="/sites/default/files/2017-04-17-summit-panel-nanoleaf.jpg" style="width: 750px; height: 500px; margin: 10px;" typeof="foaf:Image"></p> <p><em>(<strong>Gimmy Chu</strong> shows one of the Nanoleaf light bulbs to, from left: <strong>Tom Rand</strong>, <strong>Richard Blundell</strong>, <strong>Cynthia Goh</strong> and <strong>Darren Anderson</strong>)&nbsp;</em></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Mon, 17 Apr 2017 13:16:38 +0000 lanthierj 106826 at Polanyi Prize goes to 91Թ researcher for his work on more efficient solar materials /news/polanyi-prize-goes-u-t-researcher-his-work-more-efficient-solar-materials <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Polanyi Prize goes to 91Թ researcher for his work on more efficient solar materials </span> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>sgupta</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2015-11-17T07:57:54-05:00" title="Tuesday, November 17, 2015 - 07:57" class="datetime">Tue, 11/17/2015 - 07:57</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">(photo by Marit Mitchell)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/marit-mitchell" hreflang="en">Marit Mitchell</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Marit Mitchell</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/more-news" hreflang="en">More News</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/prizes" hreflang="en">Prizes</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/physics" hreflang="en">Physics</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/lighting" hreflang="en">Lighting</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/light" hreflang="en">Light</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/led" hreflang="en">LED</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/honours" hreflang="en">Honours</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/engineering" hreflang="en">Engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/awards" hreflang="en">Awards</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-subheadline field--type-string-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Subheadline</div> <div class="field__item">Engineering postdoc one of five recognized as outstanding Ontario researchers in early states of their careers</div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p><strong>Riccardo Comin</strong>, a postdoctoral fellow in <a href="http://www.ece.utoronto.ca/">The Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical &amp; Computer Engineering</a>, has won the <a href="http://cou.on.ca/about/awards/john-charles-polanyi/">2015 John Charles Polanyi Prize for Physics</a> for his research into a rapidly emerging new class of materials, called perovskites, for more efficient solar cells and lighting.</p> <p>The Polanyi Prizes are given annually to outstanding researchers in the early stages of their careers. The prizes, worth $20,000 each, are awarded in five areas: physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and economic science. Comin is the only recipient from the 91Թ this year. (<a href="http://news.utoronto.ca/tags/polanyi-prize">Read about some of 91Թ's previous&nbsp;Polanyi Prize winners</a>.)</p> <p>“By scientific upbringing, I’m a solid state physicist,” said Comin. “I take new compounds, films or crystals, crafted by chemists, and I analyze them to figure out what’s special about those materials.”</p> <p>Comin’s work, under the direction of Professor <strong>Ted Sargent</strong>, is to investigate the mysterious properties of a very special family of hybrid organic-inorganic materials called perovskites. Perovskites show great promise for a range of applications, from more efficient LED technologies to high-efficiency flexible and lightweight solar cells.</p> <p>Read more about Comin’s recent work, published in the journals<em> Science</em> and <em>Nature</em>:</p> <ul> <li><a href="http://news.utoronto.ca/new-technique-could-lead-cheaper-more-efficient-solar-power-and-leds">Crystal light: New family of light-converting materials points to cheaper, more efficient solar power and LEDs</a></li> <li><a href="http://news.utoronto.ca/fiat-lux-what-do-you-get-when-you-combine-perovskite-and-colloidal-dots">Engineered hybrid crystal opens new frontiers for high-efficiency lighting</a></li> </ul> <p>“My work in the Sargent Group has been to explore various key characteristics of perovskites, including their chemical composition, crystalline structure, and electronic structure,” said Comin. “Thanks to the Polanyi Prize, I plan to expand my work into using x-ray methods to look at the collective phenomena involving the reorientation of the organic molecules embedded in the inorganic crystalline structure of these hybrid materials.”</p> <p>Comin earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the Universita degli Studi di Trieste in Italy, both in physics. He completed his PhD at the University of British Columbia under the supervision of Andrea Damascelli, where he worked on characterizing quantum materials. When he joined the Sargent Group for his postdoctoral fellowship, he was ready to take a more applied approach to his research.</p> <p>“I’d done a lot of fundamental materials science, and I was thinking, ‘What are the strategies and processes involved in harnessing and functionalizing the material properties that are key for devices that realize solar, imaging or lighting applications?’” he said “Here, we’re trying not just to develop high-quality materials, but also to combine them into device architectures that use the best properties of these materials. Ultimately, the metric for the quality of the work is the efficiency and performance of our devices.”</p> <p>The John Charles Polanyi prize was created in honour of the achievement of <strong>John Charles Polanyi,</strong> recipient of the 1986 Nobel Prize in Chemistry and a professor in the 91Թ’s department of chemistry.</p> <p>“My congratulations to Riccardo, who is doing exceptional research,” said Professor Sargent, vice-dean, research for the Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering, and Comin’s supervisor.</p> <p>“It’s particularly wonderful to see him honoured with this award, named after one of the greatest investigators in the 91Թ’s long history.”</p> <p><a href="http://cou.on.ca/articles/polanyi-prizes-celebrate-five-ontario-researchers-for-their-outstanding-achievements/">Learn more about the other 2015 John Charles Polanyi winners</a></p> <p><em>Marit Mitchell is a writer with the Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering at the 91Թ</em></p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-picpath field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">picpath</div> <div class="field__item">sites/default/files/2015-11-17-Comin_cropped.jpg</div> </div> Tue, 17 Nov 2015 12:57:54 +0000 sgupta 7453 at Solar-powered lamp from 91Թ to transform lives in Philippines /news/solar-powered-lamp-u-t-transform-lives-philippines <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Solar-powered lamp from 91Թ to transform lives in Philippines</span> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>sgupta</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2015-11-05T01:52:50-05:00" title="Thursday, November 5, 2015 - 01:52" class="datetime">Thu, 11/05/2015 - 01:52</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">(all photos by Neda Ghazi)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/terry-lavender" hreflang="en">Terry Lavender</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Terry Lavender</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/global-lens" hreflang="en">Global Lens</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/features" hreflang="en">Features</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/social-entrepreneurship" hreflang="en">Social Entrepreneurship</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/lighting" hreflang="en">Lighting</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/light" hreflang="en">Light</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/international" hreflang="en">International</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/impact-centre" hreflang="en">Impact Centre</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/entrepreneurship" hreflang="en">Entrepreneurship</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/engineering" hreflang="en">Engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/bbcie" hreflang="en">BBCIE</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/global" hreflang="en">Global</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-subheadline field--type-string-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Subheadline</div> <div class="field__item">Cynthia Goh: “A poor fisherman or farmer who’s been working all day does not want to have to keep pumping a flashlight in order to light his house.”</div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Thanks to 91Թ’s <a href="http://www.impactcentre.ca/about-us">Impact Centre</a>, people in rural parts of the Philippines may soon get access to something that the western world takes for granted: being able to walk into a dark room, flick a switch and get instant light.</p> <p>Professor&nbsp;<strong>Cynthia Goh</strong>, the Centre’s director, said rural areas of the Philippines, along with other regions of the global south, rarely have access to electricity.</p> <p>The Philippines are close to the equator, so “it goes from very bright to very dark within a few minutes,” Goh said.&nbsp;“The sun goes down at 6 p.m. sharp and rises at 6 a.m. every day, which means for 12 whole hours, inhabitants are not able to study, do housework, or be productive.”</p> <p>To celebrate the <a href="http://www.light2015.org/Home.html">2015 International Year of Light</a>, the Impact Centre – part of <a href="http://entrepreneurs.utoronto.ca/">91Թ's Banting &amp; Best Centre for Innovation &amp; Entrepreneurship</a>&nbsp;–&nbsp;set itself a goal to create a reliable, low-cost light that provides at least four hours of light a day.</p> <p>“We want it to be bright enough and a good enough quality so that a child can read and a mother can cook,” Goh said.</p> <p><img alt="photo of person turning on a light by pulling a string" src="/sites/default/files/2015-11-03-light-impact-turn-on.jpg" style="width: 275px; height: 413px; margin: 10px; float: right;">The light also had to be easy to use, she said. Many lighting solutions designed for developing countries require winding up or pumping, or only provide inadequate, short-term light, she said.</p> <p>“A poor fisherman or farmer who’s been working all day does not want to have to keep pumping a flashlight in order to light his house. Just because people are poor, doesn’t mean that they should be subject to inconveniences.”&nbsp;</p> <p>The Impact Centre's lighting solution is a&nbsp;great example of the kind of social entrepreneurship that flourishes at 91Թ,&nbsp;said <strong>Karen Sievewright</strong>, director of 91Թ's <a href="http://entrepreneurs.utoronto.ca/">Banting &amp; Best Centre for Innovation &amp; Entrepreneurship</a>.</p> <p>“The breadth and depth of research coupled with a wide range of support at the university allows our entrepreneurs to bring better, smarter and more sustainable lighting to the world.”&nbsp;</p> <h2><a href="http://news.utoronto.ca/social-entrepreneurship-explained">Read more about social entrepreneurship</a></h2> <h2><a href="http://news.utoronto.ca/tags/lighting">Read more about lighting innovations from 91Թ</a></h2> <p>Goh and her Impact Centre colleagues unveiled their solution at an <a href="http://www.impactcentre.ca/light2015">International Year of Light symposium on Oct.&nbsp;29 at 91Թ</a>: a ceiling-mounted solar-powered lamp that incorporates 16 LEDs and provides 500 lumens of light for four hours, or dimmer light for a longer period of time.</p> <p>The lamp, which can be turned on just by touching a cord, was developed over the summer by a team of Impact Centre engineers. It is expected to cost about $24, which can be paid by instalments. The lithium ion battery will last about a year and will cost about $12.</p> <p>The actual lamps will be assembled, distributed and sold by small businesses in the Philippines. Four lamps will be installed as a pilot test in December 2015.</p> <p>“We’ll get feedback from them and then scale up to 200 in January next year,” Goh explained. &nbsp;“We’d like to check out whether the business model we’ve come up with actually works. We want to show that we can have something of good quality and still bring it out to the market at a price that people find accessible.</p> <p>“Eventually we’d like a sustainable model that can be deployed or adapted elsewhere in the world,” she said.</p> <h2><a href="http://www.impactcentre.ca/light2015">Read more about the International Year of Light</a></h2> <p><img alt="photo of overhead light not turned on" src="/sites/default/files/2015-11-03-light-off.jpg" style="width: 625px; height: 417px; margin: 10px 25px;"></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-picpath field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">picpath</div> <div class="field__item">sites/default/files/2015-11-03-light-impact.jpg</div> </div> Thu, 05 Nov 2015 06:52:50 +0000 sgupta 7406 at These undergrad interns are helping to power Nanoleaf: Jeanny Yao and Josh Hwang /news/these-undergrad-interns-are-helping-power-nanoleaf-jeanny-yao-and-josh-hwang <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">These undergrad interns are helping to power Nanoleaf: Jeanny Yao and Josh Hwang</span> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>sgupta</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2015-11-02T05:59:15-05:00" title="Monday, November 2, 2015 - 05:59" class="datetime">Mon, 11/02/2015 - 05:59</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">(image courtesy Nanoleaf)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/brianna-goldberg" hreflang="en">Brianna Goldberg</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Brianna Goldberg</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/nanoleaf" hreflang="en">Nanoleaf</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/undergraduate-education" hreflang="en">Undergraduate Education</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/undergraduate-students" hreflang="en">Undergraduate Students</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/undergrad" hreflang="en">Undergrad</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/math" hreflang="en">Math</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/lighting" hreflang="en">Lighting</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/engineering" hreflang="en">Engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/bbcie" hreflang="en">BBCIE</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/utsc" hreflang="en">UTSC</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/features" hreflang="en">Features</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Why would a fast-growing LED lighting startup&nbsp;hire a statistician and a scientist as business development interns?</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Nanoleaf – a global startup from 91Թ Engineering alumni&nbsp;–&nbsp;says it was for their&nbsp;different perspective&nbsp;and critical mindset.<a href="http://www.nanoleaf.me/"> (Read more about Nanoleaf)</a></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>“The 91Թ presence is still very strong at Nanoleaf, and I believe it always will be,” said spokesperson&nbsp;<strong>Leslie Chen</strong>. “When we were looking for interns to join our team, the first place we looked was at 91Թ.”</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The interns,&nbsp;who hooked into Nanoleaf's team through a specialized new venture internship course called<a href="http://www.impactcentre.ca/undergraduate/imc390"> IMC390</a>, get to earn course credits while exploding all conventions of what they can do with their degree.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <h2><a href="http://news.utoronto.ca/nanoleaf-launches-new-product-apple-home-system">Read more about Nanoleaf on 91Թ News&nbsp;</a></h2> <div><em>91Թ News</em> is profiling some of the&nbsp;interns helping to power the company as it continues to innovate with clean tech products in Canada and around the world. Below,&nbsp;writer <strong>Brianna Goldberg</strong> talks with&nbsp;<strong>Jeanny Yao</strong>,&nbsp;a fourth-year science student at 91Թ’s Scarborough campus and&nbsp;<strong>Josh Hwang</strong>,&nbsp;a fourth-year mathematics and statistics student who just began working with Nanoleaf this September.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div> <hr> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>How did Nanoleaf recruit you and why did you want to work with them?</strong></div> <div><strong>Yao</strong> IMC390 is a venture course that allows students to work in a startup company for eight months, gaining entrepreneurship experience as well as university credits. I recently co-founded a biotechnology company that aims&nbsp;to save the oceans&nbsp;so I was very excited about this business learning opportunity. Nanoleaf particularly caught my eye because of their belief in green technology and sustainable energy, which perfectly align with my values and interests. <a href="http://www.impactcentre.ca/undergraduate/imc390">(Read more about IMC390)</a></div> </div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>Hwang</strong> I applied for an internship at Nanoleaf through the Impact Centre at 91Թ<a href="http://entrepreneurs.utoronto.ca/"> (read more about the Impact Centre and the vast network of accelerators and startup supports at 91Թ)</a>. I thought this was a great way for me to gain new experiences and learn outside of the classroom while earning one course credit. The IMC390 course allows students to gain work experiences with a startup while in school and I’m fortunate to be able to contribute to the business development of such a cool green-tech company.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>Does your work at Nanoleaf connect with or supplement what you’ve learned at 91Թ?</strong></div> <div><strong>Yao</strong> Indirectly, yes. I am a science student a 91Թ. My role at Nanoleaf is in business development. The two may not seem connected&nbsp;but definitely complement one another. The technical side of an idea or research project is essential but there are countless number of technicalities that could keep a person occupied. To be able to bring this research to the real world, there must be an appropriate market fit and strategic plan. I believe in the importance of academic research for fundamental understanding of how the world functions but I also believe that application is the key to bringing benefit to society through science.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>Hwang</strong> My work at Nanoleaf as a business development intern is quite different from my studies in mathematics and statistics at 91Թ, but I’m able to supplement my hard skills with varied soft skills. I haven’t had any experiences with group work at university, but my work at Nanoleaf allows me to work in a team and interact with many different people, such as potential clients, and further develop my people skills.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>What have you learned in working with Nanoleaf that surprised you?</strong></div> <div><strong>Yao</strong> Everyone is extremely intense and passionate about his/her work but the setting is quite casual and the atmosphere is friendly. When physical and laborious work needs to be done fast, everyone gets on the ground and helps out.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>Hwang</strong> As an intern, I expected I would have to give a lot to the company, but the company is also interested in helping the interns learn and grow, and make the most out of the internship. Everyone at Nanoleaf is very friendly and supportive, and the managers have been invested in my personal growth as well.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <h2><a href="http://entrepreneurs.utoronto.ca/">Interested in learning more about startups and entrepreneurship at 91Թ? Visit the Banting &amp; Best Centre for Innovation &amp; Entrepreneurship</a></h2> <p><iframe allowfullscreen frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HCFg5n1JI2M" width="640"></iframe></p> <p><em><a href="https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/nanoleaf-smarter-kit-lights-you-control-with-siri#/">(Video courtesy Nanoleaf's Smarter Kit Indiegogo)</a></em></p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-picpath field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">picpath</div> <div class="field__item">sites/default/files/2015-10-27-nanoleaf-interns-1_0.jpg</div> </div> Mon, 02 Nov 2015 10:59:15 +0000 sgupta 7387 at Nanoleaf launches new product for Apple home system /news/nanoleaf-launches-new-product-apple-home-system <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Nanoleaf launches new product for Apple home system</span> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>sgupta</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2015-10-27T12:25:27-04:00" title="Tuesday, October 27, 2015 - 12:25" class="datetime">Tue, 10/27/2015 - 12:25</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">The Nanoleaf Ivy bulb (hanging) and hub (on table) work in connection with Apple HomeKit</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/brianna-goldberg" hreflang="en">Brianna Goldberg</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Brianna Goldberg</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/features" hreflang="en">Features</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/startup" hreflang="en">Startup</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/nanoleaf" hreflang="en">Nanoleaf</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/lighting" hreflang="en">Lighting</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/led" hreflang="en">LED</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/entrepreneurship" hreflang="en">Entrepreneurship</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/engineering" hreflang="en">Engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/bbcie" hreflang="en">BBCIE</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/apple" hreflang="en">Apple</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/alumni" hreflang="en">Alumni</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-subheadline field--type-string-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Subheadline</div> <div class="field__item">Siri lets users wirelessly control alumni’s award-winning super-efficient LED bulbs </div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Nanoleaf, the&nbsp;fast-growing startup from 91Թ alumni, launched a new product Oct. 27 tied to Apple's&nbsp;HomeKit line.</p> <p>“We've received Apple's approval to join the HomeKit ecosystem,” said Nanoleaf spokesperson <strong>Leslie Chen</strong>.&nbsp;</p> <div>The Nanoleaf Smarter Kit combines “the world’s most energy efficient smart bulb” and a stylish, connected hub with Apple’s Siri-enabled HomeKit, Chen said. This&nbsp;will allow&nbsp;users to wirelessly control the startup’s award-winning LED bulb designs by simply using their voice.&nbsp;<a href="http://www.nanoleaf.me/">(Read more about Nanoleaf and the new Nanoleaf Smarter Kit)</a></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>“With the emergence of smart home products, lighting is entering a whole new territory,” said Chen,<strong>&nbsp;</strong>one of a&nbsp;growing number of recent 91Թ grads&nbsp;recruited to&nbsp;Nanoleaf.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div> <div><img alt="image of ivy bulb" src="/sites/default/files/2015-10-26-nanoleaf-main-ivy-embed.jpg" style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; width: 232px; height: 300px; margin: 10px; float: left;">“Imagine sitting in the living room and being able to control all of the lights in your home with just a few words,” she said. “Pretty revolutionary to say the least!”</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Chen said the Ivy is an app-controlled bulb that users can turn on, off and dim using their Apple phone, tablet or smart watch. The Nanoleaf Smarter Kit&nbsp;is set for release in selected Best Buy locations in early November, she added, with&nbsp;more details still to come.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>“Integrating technology like this, especially through a company as famed as Apple, is a great way to reach a wider audience and get access to a new market,” said <a href="http://news.utoronto.ca/meet-karen-sievewright-managing-director-u-t-new-entrepreneurship-hub"><strong>Karen Sievewright</strong></a>, managing director of 91Թ's <a href="http://entrepreneurs.utoronto.ca/">Banting &amp; Best Centre for Innovation &amp; Entrepreneurship</a>. “It’s a smart move by Nanoleaf.”</div> </div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The green tech startup founded by Engineering alumni <strong>Gimmy Chu</strong>, <strong>Christian Yan</strong> and <strong>Tom Rodinger</strong> has grown from a massively successful Kickstarter project in early 2013, based on the strength of their stylish “world’s most energy efficient” bulb, to a bustling company with approximately 40 employees spread between its Toronto and Shenzhen, China, offices.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The venture recently scored funding from ‘Asia’s richest philanthropist,’ debuted&nbsp;products at fairs in New York, Shanghai and Tokyo and won a reddot design award for 2015.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><a href="http://news.utoronto.ca/fiat-lux-alumni-launch-nanolight">Read about Nanoleaf’s Kickstarter surpassing its goal by 500 per cent</a></div> <div><a href="http://news.utoronto.ca/asia-richest-philanthropist-major-silicon-valley-firm-invest-alumni-nanoleaf-light-bulb">Read about ‘Asia’s richest philanthropist’ investing in Nanoleaf</a></div> <div><a href="http://news.utoronto.ca/alumni-startup-nanoleaf-creating-green-jobs-toronto-china">Read about Nanoleaf creating green jobs in Canada and China</a></div> <div><a href="http://news.utoronto.ca/new-dimming-bulb-does-not-need-special-light-switch-and-is-still-world-most-energy-efficient">Read about Nanoleaf’s revolutionary dimming bulb</a></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Chen says the next big step for Nanoleaf will be releasing a product they believe will change the way people think about lighting.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><img alt="image of bulbs and hub" src="/sites/default/files/2015-10-26-nanoleaf-main-ivy-embed-2.jpg" style="width: 300px; height: 434px; margin: 10px; float: right;"></div> <div>“Light is not merely illumination. Light is atmosphere, it wakes you up after a night of sleep, it keeps us safe and content, just as much today as two million years ago,” said Chu, CEO of Nanoleaf. “We want to make products that will transform simple lighting solutions into meaningful experiences.”</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Nanoleaf made the announcement as 91Թ's Impact Centre prepared to host a&nbsp;symposium celebrating the International Year of Light. <a href="http://www.impactcentre.ca/light2015">(Read more about the IYL Symposium)</a></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Chen says the gains of Nanoleaf rely on the team members they continue to recruit from 91Թ.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>“The 91Թ presence is still very strong at Nanoleaf, and I believe it always will be,” said Chen. “When we were looking for interns to join our team, the first place we looked was at 91Թ.”</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Watch for <em>91Թ News</em>&nbsp;stories profiling Nanoleaf's three undergrad interns, <strong>Jeanny Yao</strong>, <strong>Frank Gu</strong>&nbsp;and<strong> Josh Hwang</strong>&nbsp;in the coming week.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>“Nanoleaf will always be very closely connected with 91Թ: our three founders are all alumni and without the school, they would have never met in the first place,” said Chen.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>“It will always be part of our identity and I think that’s why 91Թ grads are a good fit for us.”</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <p><iframe allowfullscreen frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HCFg5n1JI2M" width="640"></iframe></p> <p><em><a href="https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/nanoleaf-smarter-kit-lights-you-control-with-siri#/">(Video courtesy Nanoleaf's Smarter Kit Indiegogo)</a></em></p> <h2><a href="http://entrepreneurs.utoronto.ca/">Learn more about entrepreneurships and startups at 91Թ:&nbsp;visit the Banting &amp; Best Centre for Entrepreneurship.</a></h2> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-picpath field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">picpath</div> <div class="field__item">sites/default/files/2015-10-26-nanoleaf-main-lead.jpg</div> </div> Tue, 27 Oct 2015 16:25:27 +0000 sgupta 7386 at Fiat lux: what do you get when you combine perovskite and colloidal dots? /news/fiat-lux-what-do-you-get-when-you-combine-perovskite-and-colloidal-dots <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Fiat lux: what do you get when you combine perovskite and colloidal dots? </span> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>sgupta</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2015-07-17T06:07:14-04:00" title="Friday, July 17, 2015 - 06:07" class="datetime">Fri, 07/17/2015 - 06:07</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item"> Riccardo Comin (left) and Xiwen Gong combined two different materials to create new hyper-efficient light-emitting crystal (photo by Marit Mitchell)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/marit-mitchell" hreflang="en">Marit Mitchell</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Marit Mitchell</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/breaking-research" hreflang="en">Breaking Research</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/lighting" hreflang="en">Lighting</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/solar" hreflang="en">Solar</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/light" hreflang="en">Light</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/led" hreflang="en">LED</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/international" hreflang="en">International</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/engineering" hreflang="en">Engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/collaboration" hreflang="en">Collaboration</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research" hreflang="en">Research</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/features" hreflang="en">Features</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-subheadline field--type-string-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Subheadline</div> <div class="field__item">91Թ researchers engineer hybrid solar-power crystal that opens new frontiers in high-efficiency lighting</div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>It’s snack time: you have a plain oatmeal cookie, and a pile of chocolate chips. Both are delicious on their own&nbsp;but if you can find a way to combine them smoothly, you get the best of both worlds.</p> <p>Researchers in the 91Թ's&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ece.utoronto.ca/">Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical &amp; Computer Engineering </a>used this insight to invent something totally new: they’ve combined two promising solar cell materials together for the first time, creating a new platform for LED technology.&nbsp;</p> <p>The team designed a way to embed strongly luminescent nanoparticles called colloidal quantum dots (the chocolate chips) into perovskite (the oatmeal cookie). Perovskites are a family of materials that can be easily manufactured from solution, and that allow electrons to move swiftly through them with minimal loss or capture by defects.&nbsp;</p> <div style="float: left; margin: 5px 15px 10px 0; width: 300px"><img alt src="/sites/default/files/2015-07-17_DotsinPerovskite_Glowing1_square-300.gif" style="width: 300px; height: 300px;"> <p style="margin-top:0">A glowing quantum dot seamlessly integrated into a perovskite crystal matrix (Image: Ella Marushchenko).</p> </div> <p>The work was&nbsp;published July 15&nbsp;in <a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v523/n7560/full/nature14563.html">the international journal <em>Nature</em></a>.</p> <p>“It’s a pretty novel idea to blend together these two optoelectronic materials, both of which are gaining a lot of traction,” said&nbsp;<strong>Xiwen Gong</strong>, one of the study’s lead authors and a PhD candidate working with Professor <strong>Ted Sargent</strong>. “We wanted to take advantage of the benefits of both by combining them seamlessly in a solid-state matrix.”</p> <p>The result is a black crystal that relies on the perovskite matrix to ‘funnel’ electrons into the quantum dots, which are extremely efficient at converting electricity to light. Hyper-efficient LED technologies could enable applications from the visible-light LED bulbs in every home, to new displays, to gesture recognition using near-infrared wavelengths.</p> <p>“When you try to jam two different crystals together, they often form separate phases without blending smoothly into each other,” said&nbsp;<strong>Riccardo Comin</strong>, a post-doctoral fellow in the Sargent Group.</p> <p>“We had to design a new strategy to&nbsp;convince these two components to forget about their differences and to rather intermix into forming a unique crystalline entity.”&nbsp;</p> <p>The main challenge was making the orientation of the two crystal structures line up, called heteroexpitaxy. To achieve heteroepitaxy, Gong, Comin and their team engineered a way to connect the atomic ‘ends’ of the two crystalline structures so that they aligned smoothly, without defects forming at the seams.</p> <p>“We started by building a nano-scale scaffolding ‘shell’ around the quantum dots in solution, then grew the perovskite crystal around that shell so the two faces aligned,” explained coauthor <strong>Zhijun Ning</strong>, who contributed to the work while a post-doctoral fellow at UofT and is now a faculty member at ShanghaiTech.</p> <p>The resulting heterogeneous material is the basis for a new family of highly energy-efficient near-infrared LEDs. Infrared LEDs can be harnessed for improved night-vision technology, to better biomedical imaging, to high-speed telecommunications.</p> <p>Combining the two materials in this way also solves the problem of self-absorption, which occurs when a substance partly re-absorbs the same spectrum of energy that it emits, with a net efficiency loss.</p> <p>“These dots in perovskite don’t suffer reabsorption, because the emission of the dots doesn’t overlap with the absorption spectrum of the perovskite,” Comin said.</p> <p>Gong, Comin and the team deliberately designed their material to be compatible with solution-processing, so it could be readily integrated with the most inexpensive and commercially practical ways of manufacturing solar film and devices.</p> <p>Their next step is to build and test the hardware to capitalize on the concept they have proven with this work.</p> <p>“We’re going to build the LED device and try to beat the record power efficiency reported in the literature,” Gong said.</p> <p>This work was supported by the Ontario Research Fund Research Excellence Program, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), and the King Abdullah University of Science &amp; Technology (KAUST).</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-picpath field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">picpath</div> <div class="field__item">sites/default/files/2015-07-16-LED-researchers.jpg</div> </div> Fri, 17 Jul 2015 10:07:14 +0000 sgupta 7153 at The organic LED age is here: Meet the 91Թ engineers behind OTI Lumionics /news/organic-led-age-here-meet-u-t-engineers-behind-oti-lumionics <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">The organic LED age is here: Meet the 91Թ engineers behind OTI Lumionics</span> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>sgupta</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2015-02-25T05:08:02-05:00" title="Wednesday, February 25, 2015 - 05:08" class="datetime">Wed, 02/25/2015 - 05:08</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">The OLED research team (above photo by Mark Balson)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/robert-hercz" hreflang="en">Robert Hercz</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Robert Hercz</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/lighting" hreflang="en">Lighting</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/startup" hreflang="en">Startup</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/entrepreneurship" hreflang="en">Entrepreneurship</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/engineering" hreflang="en">Engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/commercialization" hreflang="en">Commercialization</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/features" hreflang="en">Features</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Google “OLED,” and you’ll find scores of articles confidently predicting that this is the year of the organic light-emitting diode. Some of those articles are ten years old.</p> <p>Still, there are reasons to believe the OLED age is finally dawning. In fact, engineering alumnus <strong>Michael Helander</strong>&nbsp;is betting on it.</p> <p>Three years ago, Helander&nbsp;was a PhD student with an important discovery just published in <em>Science&nbsp;–&nbsp;</em>a rising star who could have had his pick of academic postings. Instead, he gave up a life in research to start a technology company he named <a href="http://www.otilumionics.com/">OTI Lumionics</a>.</p> <p>The failure rate of technology startups, by some estimates, is 90 per cent.</p> <p>Who would trade the life they’d dreamed of for a chance to play Russian roulette with five chambers loaded? Someone who’s counting on a lot more than just luck.</p> <p>Why the fuss about OLEDs? And what on earth is an OLED? The best answer to both questions is OTI’s first and only consumer product, <a href="https://aerelight.com/">the aerelight</a>. It’s an aluminum table lamp&nbsp;–&nbsp;sleek, angled, and a little retro (reminiscent of an older Canadian beauty, 1968’s Contempra phone). The light comes from a 10-cm square wafer no thicker than two sheets of paper&nbsp;–&nbsp;an OLED.</p> <p>Not only is the lamp beautiful, so is its light. OLEDs are cool to the touch but warm to the eye, dimmable, flexible and efficient. They don’t blaze from a single spot like LEDs; they diffuse evenly from every point on their surfaces, which can be arbitrarily large. After seeing the aerelight, other light sources&nbsp;–&nbsp;whether incandescent, fluorescent, or LED&nbsp;–&nbsp;immediately seem huge, hot and obsolete.</p> <p><img alt src="/sites/default/files/2015-02-25-Aerelight-%28Credit-Roberta-Baker%29.jpg" style="margin: 10px; width: 625px; height: 417px;"></p> <p>&nbsp;(<em>above photo by Roberta Baker</em>)</p> <p>Like a conventional light-emitting diode, an organic LED produces light when a voltage is placed across it. The difference is the material between the electrodes. Instead of a crystalline semiconductor, OLEDs use organic compounds&nbsp;–&nbsp;plastics, in essence&nbsp;–&nbsp;similar to the pigments used in colour Xerox machines.</p> <p>“LEDs are grown from perfect single crystals,” says Helander. “The probability of a defect increases exponentially with size, so it’s limited to a point source. Organic molecules don’t have any long-range order, so they don’t need a perfect single-crystal structure to work. That’s what allows you to distribute it across a large surface.”</p> <p>Lighting isn’t the only place the OLED shines. It’s already made an appearance in smartphone displays and television screens, where its other advantages&nbsp;–&nbsp;richer colours, deeper blacks and near-instantaneous response times&nbsp;–&nbsp;make it the heir apparent to the liquid crystal display. But OTI is staying away from displays. Multinationals such as&nbsp;Samsung and LG have already spent billions to enter and fight over that market.</p> <p>Lighting, on the other hand, is still in its dark ages. Even the latest technology, the LED, comes packaged to resemble Thomas Edison’s 1880 bulb. That paradigm is about to shift. Soon, a light won’t be a product, but a feature of a surface&nbsp;–&nbsp;any surface. Windows, walls and wallpaper, furniture, cars, and clothes: light will come from everywhere.</p> <p>If OTI succeeds, Toronto-born Helander will be the reason. He’s a force of nature, intense, ambitious, and, at 29, astonishingly accomplished.</p> <p>As a kid, he wanted to be a scientist. Then he enrolled in the 91Թ’s engineering science program (“because people said it was the hardest”) and realized he wanted to be an engineer. While working on his PhD with <strong>Zheng-Hong Lu</strong>, professor and Canada Research Chair in Organic Optoelectronics in the department of materials science and&nbsp;engineering (“They had lots of shiny equipment, so that got me excited”), he realized he really wanted to be an entrepreneur.</p> <p>He reached that decision after stumbling on a major discovery. Helander and OTI cofounder <strong>Zhibin Wang</strong>&nbsp;were working with indium tin oxide (ITO),&nbsp;the industry-standard, transparent yet conductive coating used in every kind of flat-panel display,&nbsp;when they noticed something unexpected. Some of their samples were working far more efficiently&nbsp;–&nbsp;carrying much more current&nbsp;–&nbsp;than they should. They assumed their equipment was improperly calibrated, but soon ruled that out. The effect was real. Their ITO had been contaminated.</p> <p>It took months to find the culprit: chlorine from open bottles of cleaning fluid. “Basically, breaking the safety rules,” Helander quips. “The next step: how do we make use of it?”</p> <p>Helander, Wang and Professor Lu published their answer in <em>Science</em> in May of 2011: chlorinated ITO. A one-atom thick layer of chlorine dramatically increased the brightness of OLEDs while reducing their energy consumption by up to 50 per cent. It also drastically lowered their cost by reducing the number of organic layers needed to make a diode from as many as eight to just two or three.</p> <p>That news was greeted with considerable interest. “Big companies started approaching us,” Helander says. “They wanted to license or buy the technology. We thought, if they’re willing to pay this much now, there must be much more value than they’re letting on. Let’s try making a go of it ourselves.”</p> <p>So they created OTI Lumionics. The initials don’t stand for anything. It’s just ITO backwards, a declaration that their approach would be 180 degrees from usual. “Lumionics” is a fabricated word that sounds like light, a choice Helander somewhat regrets because nobody seems able to spell it.</p> <p>At first, Helander thought OTI would be nothing more than a stepping-stone to an academic career. “When we started the company, we viewed it as another checkbox on the academic CV. Successfully commercialized tech: check.”</p> <p>But as the months rolled by, a desire to finish what they’d started in the lab took root. Helander and Wang decided their future lay with OTI. (<a href="http://news.utoronto.ca/alumni-startup-oti-lumionics-awarded-57-million-produce-energy-efficient-lighting-solutions">Read&nbsp;about the most recent support for OTI Lumionics</a>.) Giving up academia for entrepreneurship wasn’t hard, Helander said. By the time he’d earned his PhD, his name was on over a hundred publications, more than most researchers produce in an entire career.</p> <p>“When you get up to that number of publications it’s almost like a paper mill; it’s just a formula you’re repeating,” he says. “It felt like we had learned the game and it wasn’t challenging anymore. We wanted new challenges.”</p> <p><img alt src="/sites/default/files/2015-02-25-OTI-team_%28Credit-Roberta-Baker%29-%282%29.jpg" style="margin: 10px; width: 625px; height: 417px;">(<em>Above photo of Helander (centre) with team by Roberta Baker</em>)</p> <p>Helander takes me into the back corner of OTI’s new offices in the 91Թ’s venerable Banting Building on College Street. The room is dominated by a seven foot-tall vacuum-deposition chamber that looks like a giant robotic squid.</p> <p>“This is our rapid prototyping module for organic LEDs,” he explains. “It allows us to make large, flexible panels in about an hour.” He bends a six-inch square sheet of shiny blue-green plastic&nbsp;–&nbsp;a freshly-made OLED&nbsp;–&nbsp;into a half-cylinder. I want to ask for details, but Helander is already talking about his plans for the larger, still empty, room adjacent.</p> <p>“The pilot scale-up next door will be the same process, except it’ll be ten modules next to each other, so the production time goes down from an hour to minutes.”</p> <p>Before I can quiz him on that, he’s shifted gears again. “The step after that, starting next year, is building a full production plant, hopefully somewhere in southern Ontario.” Helander speaks very fast, at the edge of comprehensibility, skipping syllables and sometimes entire words in a losing fight to keep up with his own thoughts. “We’ll be pulling together a whole syndicate of partners that are throwing in a whole bunch of support. We’re hoping to get money from the province as well and raise another round of financing. It’s a massive project.”</p> <p>Sounds ambitious. “Very ambitious,” he says. “People tell us we have lack of focus. But to understand our customers, we have to have our hands in everything. At the same time, we’re a small company. For what we’re doing we should have ten times the personnel and twenty times the capital. Trying to do the impossible&nbsp;–&nbsp;that’s how you succeed.”</p> <p>It’s clear Helander’s ambition doesn’t stop at table lamps. In fact, it doesn’t even include table lamps&nbsp;–&nbsp;or didn’t, until he and OTI’s senior product designer,<strong> Ray Kwa</strong>, built a few prototypes. Everyone who saw them had the same three questions: “When can I buy it? When can I buy it? When can I buy it?”</p> <p><iframe allowfullscreen frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/l_MTy-mS8cc" width="640"></iframe></p> <p>So OTI’s nine employees are making OLED panels and assembling lamps on College Street. At the same time, multibillion-dollar giants like Philips, LG and Konica Minolta are preparing to turn out OLED panels by the million. In a few months, OLED table lamps may be going for a fraction of the price&nbsp;–&nbsp;$239 (USD)&nbsp;–&nbsp;of an aerelight.</p> <p>Remarkably, Helander is unfazed by that prospect. “That would make us so happy,” he says. “It would prove that we’re on the right track and the market is there.”</p> <p>Helander’s plan is not to sell lamps but to service niches&nbsp;–&nbsp;lots and lots of niches&nbsp;–&nbsp;that are too small for the giants. “There are a lot of partners we work with who only want 10, 50, 100, units. A massive production line can’t do that effectively. Our vision is to enable hundreds of companies, delivering on-demand whatever people need, for applications in lighting, furniture, automotive, wearables, whatever you want.”</p> <p>Like any entrepreneur, Helander sounds more confident than he has any right to be. For the foreseeable future, OTI will live amongst threats: an untested market, ever-mutating technology, giants ready to grind him to paste, uncertain financial backing. To defend himself, Helander has little more than a small pool of talents, patents and ambitions.</p> <p>Of course, in his case, that might just be enough.</p> <p><em style="line-height: 18px; font-size: 12px;">Originally published in the 2015 issue of&nbsp;<a href="http://mse.utoronto.ca/alumni-industry/impact-magazine/03-2015/">Impact Magazine</a>.</em></p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-picpath field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">picpath</div> <div class="field__item">sites/default/files/2015-02-25-OLED.jpg</div> </div> Wed, 25 Feb 2015 10:08:02 +0000 sgupta 6821 at Alumni startup OTI Lumionics awarded $5.7 million to produce energy-efficient lighting solutions /news/alumni-startup-oti-lumionics-awarded-57-million-produce-energy-efficient-lighting-solutions <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Alumni startup OTI Lumionics awarded $5.7 million to produce energy-efficient lighting solutions</span> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>sgupta</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2015-02-23T04:17:35-05:00" title="Monday, February 23, 2015 - 04:17" class="datetime">Mon, 02/23/2015 - 04:17</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item"> Alumnus Michael Helander (centre) and his startup, OTI Lumionics, have received significant investment from the Canadian government to build a pilot production line capable of producing high-volumes of their organic LED lighting panels (photo by Roberta </div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/luke-ng" hreflang="en">Luke Ng</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Luke Ng</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/lighting" hreflang="en">Lighting</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/startup" hreflang="en">Startup</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/entrepreneurship" hreflang="en">Entrepreneurship</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/engineering" hreflang="en">Engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/commercialization" hreflang="en">Commercialization</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/alumni" hreflang="en">Alumni</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/more-news" hreflang="en">More News</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>It’s about to get a whole lot brighter in Toronto thanks to a significant investment from the Canadian government in a 91Թ engineering alumnus’ sustainable lighting company.</p> <p><a href="http://www.otilumionics.com/">OTI Lumionics</a>, a company co-founded by alumnus <strong>Michael Helander</strong>, has been awarded $5.7 million from Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC). The goal:&nbsp;to implement a pilot production line capable of producing high volumes of organic light-emitting diode (OLED) lighting panels.(<a href="http://news.utoronto.ca/worlds-first-consumer-ready-oled-lamp">Read more about OTI&nbsp;Lumionics</a>.)</p> <p>“We can make large, flexible OLED panels in about an hour with our rapid prototyping module,” said Helander. “This new pilot production line will be the same process, except it’ll be ten modules next to each other, cutting down the production time from an hour to minutes.”</p> <p>OTI is one of seven clean technology projects in Ontario announced to receive investments totalling more than $26.8 million from SDTC’s SD Tech Fund™, part of Canada’s Economic Action Plan, supporting jobs, economic growth and the environment.</p> <p><iframe allowfullscreen frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/l_MTy-mS8cc" width="640"></iframe></p> <p>Founded in 2011, OTI Lumionics was created by Helander and several of his 91Թ engineering colleagues to commercialize their <a href="http://mse.utoronto.ca/news/advanced-materials-researchers-brighten-future-of-oled-technology/">major breakthrough in OLED technology</a> made during their doctoral studies. Today, OTI employs about a dozen employees&nbsp;–&nbsp;most of them 91Թ engineering alumni&nbsp;–&nbsp;and is located in a 3,300 square foot office and lab space in the <a href="http://entrepreneurs.utoronto.ca/">Banting &amp; Best Centre for Innovation &amp; Entrepreneurship</a>&nbsp;across from the MaRS Discovery District.</p> <p>Their inaugural product&nbsp;–&nbsp;the world’s first OLED table lamp, aerelight&nbsp;–&nbsp;was launched to market in 2014.</p> <p>“Congratulations to all of our 91Թ Engineering alumni at OTI Lumionics. This is a well-deserved recognition of the important work they are doing,” said Professor <strong>Jun Nogami</strong>, chair of the 91Թ department of materials science &amp; engineering. “This investment shows that our federal government has a strong commitment to supporting leading edge technologies that will help grow Canada’s green research and development knowledge base as we all work towards a more sustainable future.”</p> <p>(Read more about Helander and OTI Lumionics’ story in ‘<a href="http://mse.utoronto.ca/alumni-industry/impact-magazine/03-2015/the-glow-of-confidence/">The Glow of Confidence</a>’ feature in the 91Թ department of materials science and&nbsp;engineering’s recently released <a href="http://mse.utoronto.ca/alumni-industry/impact-magazine/"><em>Impact magazine</em></a>.)</p> <p><em>Luke Ng is a writer with the Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering at the 91Թ.</em></p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-picpath field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">picpath</div> <div class="field__item">sites/default/files/2015-02-23-OTI-Lumionics-roberta-baker.jpg</div> </div> Mon, 23 Feb 2015 09:17:35 +0000 sgupta 6817 at New technique could lead to cheaper, more efficient solar power and LEDs /news/new-technique-could-lead-cheaper-more-efficient-solar-power-and-leds <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">New technique could lead to cheaper, more efficient solar power and LEDs</span> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>sgupta</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2015-01-30T04:09:57-05:00" title="Friday, January 30, 2015 - 04:09" class="datetime">Fri, 01/30/2015 - 04:09</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item"> as perfect single crystals.</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/marit-mitchell" hreflang="en">Marit Mitchell</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Marit Mitchell</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/lighting" hreflang="en">Lighting</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/engineering" hreflang="en">Engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/top-stories" hreflang="en">Top Stories</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-subheadline field--type-string-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Subheadline</div> <div class="field__item">91Թ experts suggest crystalized materials may hold wide commercial potential</div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>91Թ experts are shining new light on an emerging family of solar-absorbing materials that could lead to cheaper and more efficient solar panels and LEDs.</p> <p>The materials, called perovskites, are particularly good at absorbing visible light, but had never been studied in their purest form: as perfect single crystals.</p> <p>Using a new technique, researchers grew large, pure perovskite crystals and studied how electrons move through the material as light is converted to electricity.</p> <p>Led by Professor <strong>Ted Sargent</strong> of The Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical &amp; Computer Engineering at the 91Թ in collaboration with Professor Osman Bakr of the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), the team used a combination of laser-based techniques to measure selected properties of the perovskite crystals.</p> <p><img alt="image of crystalized materials in lab" src="/sites/default/files/2015-01-30-new-solar-crystals-embed1.jpg" style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; width: 200px; height: 133px; margin: 10px; float: left;">By tracking down the ultrafast motion of electrons in the material, they have been able to measure the diffusion length –&nbsp;how far electrons can travel without getting trapped by imperfections in the material<span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">–&nbsp;</span>as well as mobility<span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">–&nbsp;</span>how fast the electrons can move through the material. Their work was published this week in the journal <em>Science</em>.</p> <p>“Our work sets the bar for the ultimate solar energy-harvesting performance of perovskites,” says <strong>Riccardo Comin</strong>, a post-doctoral fellow with the Sargent Group. “With these materials it’s been a race to try to get record efficiencies, and there are no signs of stopping or slowing down.”</p> <p>In recent years, perovskite efficiency has soared to over 20 per cent, very close to the current best performance of commercial-grade silicon-based solar panels you see mounted in Spanish deserts and on Californian roofs.</p> <p>“In terms of efficiency, perovskites are perfectly comparable or better than materials that have already been commercialized,” says <strong>Valerio Adinolfi</strong>, a PhD candidate in the Sargent Group and co-first author on the paper. “The challenge is to make solar attractive from the business side. It’s not just matter of making it efficient<span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">–&nbsp;</span>the point is to make it efficient and cheap.”</p> <p>The study has obvious implications for green energy, but may also enable innovations in lighting.</p> <p><img alt="image of crystalized materials in lab" src="/sites/default/files/2015-01-30-new-solar-crystals-embed2.jpg" style="width: 300px; height: 200px; margin: 10px; float: right;">Think of a solar panel made of perovskite crystals as a fancy slab of glass: light hits the crystal surface and gets absorbed, exciting electrons in the material. Those electrons travel easily through the crystal to electrical contacts on its underside, where they are collected in the form of electric current.</p> <p>Now imagine the sequence in reverse<span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">–&nbsp;</span>power the slab with electricity, inject electrons&nbsp;and release energy as light. A more efficient electricity-to-light conversion means perovskites could open new frontiers for energy-efficient LEDs.</p> <p>Parallel work in the Sargent Group focuses on improving nano-engineered solar-absorbing particles called colloidal quantum dots. “Perovskites are great visible-light harvesters, and quantum dots are great for infrared,” said&nbsp;Sargent.</p> <p>“In future, we will explore the opportunities for stacking together complementary absorbent materials,” says Dr. Comin. “There are very promising prospects for combining perovskite work and quantum dot work for further boosting the efficiency.”</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-picpath field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">picpath</div> <div class="field__item">sites/default/files/2015-01-30-new-solar-crystals.jpg</div> </div> Fri, 30 Jan 2015 09:09:57 +0000 sgupta 6759 at World's first consumer-ready OLED lamp /news/worlds-first-consumer-ready-oled-lamp <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">World's first consumer-ready OLED lamp</span> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>sgupta</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2014-10-15T04:10:34-04:00" title="Wednesday, October 15, 2014 - 04:10" class="datetime">Wed, 10/15/2014 - 04:10</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">aerelight™ – the world’s first consumer-ready OLED lamp, by 91Թ Engineering alumni (photo by Roberta Baker)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/luke-ng" hreflang="en">Luke Ng</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/rj-taylor" hreflang="en">RJ Taylor</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Luke Ng &amp; RJ Taylor</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/lighting" hreflang="en">Lighting</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/startup" hreflang="en">Startup</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/entrepreneurship" hreflang="en">Entrepreneurship</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/engineering" hreflang="en">Engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/alumni" hreflang="en">Alumni</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/features" hreflang="en">Features</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-subheadline field--type-string-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Subheadline</div> <div class="field__item">New product from alumni startup OTI Lumionics gives investors a glimpse of technology's potential </div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>If you visit the lighting section of your nearest hardware store, chances are you’ll be bombarded by the latest mega-efficient LED bulbs&nbsp;–&nbsp;but to alumnus <strong>Michael Helander</strong>, that technology is old news.</p> <p>Helander and a team of former 91Թ Engineering students recently released the world’s first organic LED (or OLED) lamp, <a href="http://aerelight.com/">aerelight</a>™. The product harnesses the power of next-generation OLEDs to emit a warm light from a thin sheet of non-toxic, carbon-based materials.</p> <p>The lamp uses less energy than traditional sources, providing up to 1,000 lux of illumination&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">–&nbsp;</span>double a typical office environment <span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">–</span>&nbsp;with only seven watts. It also features a dimming capability, wireless smartphone charging built into the base&nbsp;and, of course, an advanced OLED panel. (<a href="http://aerelight.com/">Read more about aerelight</a>.)</p> <p>OLEDs are a sophisticated type of light-emitting diodes that pass electricity through carbon-based dyes and pigments to power lights and displays. While we’ve seen this technology in certain high-end smartphones and premium flat-panel displays, this is the first consumer-ready indoor OLED lighting product ever made.</p> <p>“We started with a goal of building the aerelight desk lamp, first as a great product, and second as the first consumer-ready OLED lamp,” said Helander, who co-founded <a href="http://www.otilumionics.com/">OTI Lumionics </a>to commercialize OLEDs in 2011. The startup manufactures the lamps in-house, and is scheduled to ship them to consumers in early 2015.</p> <p>“With traditional light sources, the bulb is a distinct separate entity from the fixture,” said alumnus and OTI senior product designer <strong>Ray Kwa</strong>. “With aerelight, I wanted to create a seamless, continuous frame integrating the base, frame and light&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">–&nbsp;</span>synonymous to the OLED light source itself which emits a diffused, fluid soft light.”</p> <p>Although the lamp’s efficiency and sleek design are already <a href="http://business.financialpost.com/2014/09/29/let-there-be-oled-light-startup-sees-bright-future-in-organic-diodes/?__lsa=a83d-e1e0">making media headlines</a>, aerelight is actually part of a much greater strategy from OTI to make OLED technology cheaper and easier to manufacture.</p> <p>“OLEDs have many unique characteristics that make [them] the ideal light source of the future, but potential growth has been stifled by the high manufacturing costs,” said Helander.</p> <p>In 2011, then-PhD students Helander and <strong>Zhibin Wang</strong>, along with their supervisor Professor <strong>Zheng-Hong Lu</strong>, discovered a new method for cost-effective production of OLEDs. Publishing their work&nbsp;in <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/content/332/6032/944.short">the leading journal, Science</a>, the trio used a single-atom-thick layer of chlorine that simplified the internal structure of OLED technology, while still achieving high brightness and efficiency.</p> <p>Shortly after the breakthrough, Helander and other 91Թ Engineering alumni spun off the technology into OTI&nbsp;–&nbsp;taking their ideas to the University's&nbsp;elite accelerator program in the <a href="http://www.creativedestructionlab.com/">Creative Destruction Lab</a>, based at the Rotman School of Management. Over eight months, they honed the necessary technical and business aspects of their company, while also meeting with Canadian business and entrepreneurship titans.</p> <p>The fledgling startup has already received significant interest from notable investors, including <strong>Lee Lau</strong>, ATI Technologies founder and a G7 fellow at 91Թ’s Creative Destruction Lab, and<strong> Roger Martin</strong>, former Rotman School of Management&nbsp;dean.</p> <p>“This is a great example of how new materials like OLEDs can be showcased in a product that represents a paradigm shift in indoor lighting and sustainable technologies,” said Professor <strong>Jun Nogami</strong>, chair of 91Թ's department of materials science and&nbsp;engineering.</p> <p>With their first product hitting desks soon, Helander and his team at OTI continue to make OLED technology more accessible than ever&nbsp;–&nbsp;suggesting a bright future is in store for them as well.</p> <p>See aerelight for yourself:</p> <p><iframe allowfullscreen frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/1s0o1xkJo20?rel=0" width="560"></iframe></p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-picpath field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">picpath</div> <div class="field__item">sites/default/files/2014-10-14-oti-lumionics.jpg</div> </div> Wed, 15 Oct 2014 08:10:34 +0000 sgupta 6569 at