Dr Jizhong Yao and Dr Buyi Yan

BE '11 UNSW

Dr Jizhong Yao and Dr Buyi yan are the co-founders of Hangzhou Microquanta Semiconductor Co., Ltd., a startup company that specialises and leads in perovskite solar cells commercialisation.

According to the company, its latest perovskite mini-module has an electricity conversion rate of 17%, beating is previous record of 16%. So far, MQS has received strategic investment from one of the the top renewable energy companies and raised more than $10 million in total funding to further commercialise the technology, expecting to find production lines this year.

Funded by a scholarship from the Asian-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate, Dr Yan and Dr Yao both began studying at UNSW in 2008. They graduated in 2010 with first honours degrees and dual-degrees from both UNSW and Zhejiang University. In the summer of 2015, Dr Yan and Dr Yao founded Microquanta. Yao Jizhong holds a PhD from the Imperial College London, where he worked on optoelectronics-related projects. Dr Yao and Dr Yan have been nominated in the Forbes Asian 30 under 30 in the Energy and Industry sector.