After months of construction work, Rayleigh has finished commissioning their state of the art pilot manufacturing and R&D facility. Located in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, this facility will allow Rayleigh to advance commercialization while continuing to develop and optimize their core solar technology
“It’s really exciting to see the new facility complete,” said Rayleigh Founder, Dr. Sam March. “We’ve come a long way from a single 5cm sheet coater in a lab at Dalhousie University”.
The centerpiece of the space is the industrial slot-die coater, which was purchased from a supplier in California. This industrial coating machine allows Rayleigh to create solar modules up to 30cm wide on a continuous roll to roll basis. The solar film can then be cut to size based on its intended application. This pilot-scale manufacturing plant will allow Rayleigh to validate the scalability of their low cost, thin film solar manufacturing process.
Until now, Rayleigh has been renting time with a slot-die coater at a local battery manufacturer. This arrangement allowed them to complete manufacturing trials and print samples, but a battery facility is not the ideal environment for printing uniform perovskite films. Rayleigh’s new facility includes an extensive climate control system that creates the optimal conditions for manufacturing their technology.
The R&D portion of the facility includes a laser scriber, sheet coater, spin coater, glove box, vacuum oven and fume hoods. These tools will allow Rayleigh to continue pushing the boundaries of possibilities for solar applications.
“This facility really brings us to the next level” said Dr. March. “Having in-house manufacturing capacity allows us to support new industry collaborations while strengthening our core technology”
