Yixuan Dou

Track

Innovation

Faculty Mentor

Lina Quan
Assistant Professor

How will the Innovation Fellowship help you advance and grow as a professional?

The multifaceted nature of leading research and companies requires a broader palette of skills. The Innovation Fellowship is the crucible in which I can refine vital skills bridging the gap between my current capabilities and the comprehensive expertise needed to develop as research leader.

Briefly describe the technology you are working to commercialize. What problems does your technology solve? What impact do you expect it to have on the marketplace?

The global market for photonic semiconductors is experiencing rapid growth, with new technologies in this field advancing swiftly. More efficient photonic semiconductors can change the way people live and are also significant to lighting energy saving. This underscores the urgency to innovate environmentally sustainable, efficient, and versatile photonic semiconductors, which requires further breakthroughs in new materials discovery. Recently, hybrid perovskite photonic semiconductors have attracted significant attention because of their economical fabrication process and excellent efficiency. We discovered non-toxic, hybrid semiconducting optical modulators that not only exhibit high efficiency but also boast significantly lower production costs ($2.00 versus $1,000). The economical waveplates could significantly decrease the cost of achromatic waveplates.

What got you interested in pursuing technology commercialization efforts?

My interest in bringing technology to the market stemmed from my experience in the photonic semiconductor field. In this field, optical components are required for nearly all types of measurements. However, new experimental designs are sometimes hindered by the high price of optical components, particularly aromatic waveplates. Faced with this obstacle, I became motivated to develop more affordable optical components. By making these essential parts more affordable, researchers will have more freedom to innovate in optical system design. This, in turn, could accelerate both scientific breakthroughs and technological progress.

What commercialization activities and training opportunities have you already engaged in through Virginia Tech and other relevant organizations? How have these resources assisted you in advancing your commercializtion efforts?

I received training from the Virginia Tech Innovation Commercialization Assistance Program and will be participating in the Innovative Thinking to Launch Your Career workshop (led by Archer Career) in Spring 2024. I believe the training has helped and will help me develop leadership, network building, grant writing, and communication skills that are paramount for effective administration and funding applications.

Who will you be working with during this fellowship at Virginia Tech? What expertise and skills do your collaborators and mentors bring to help you advance your training and professional development?

My research mentor is Dr. Lina Quan from Department of Chemistry.  Quan's laboratory is at the forefront of photonic semiconductor research and focuses on developing next-generation low-cost, highly efficient solid-state lighting and photonic semiconductors. They have pioneered the development of a novel class of hybrid perovskite photonic semiconductors, distinguished by their exceptional light-emitting efficiency, non-linear light-emission, circularly polarized emission, and robust light modulation capabilities. These semiconductors, given their remarkable performance, hold significant promise for commercialization.