As the global solar industry accelerates toward terawatt-scale manufacturing, it faces a critical bottleneck: silver. Today’s high-efficiency silicon solar cells rely on screen-printed silver contacts, and in 2025 alone, photovoltaic manufacturing consumed roughly 25% of global silver supply, highlighting the material risk of scaling solar without redesigning how critical resources are used.    With the support of the Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics,  Associate P

UNSW’s Daylight Photoluminescence (DPL) Imaging Group, led by Professor Thorsten Trupke and Dr Oliver Kunz, with ACAP support, continues to develop their drone-based imaging solutions which have the potential to transform how solar farms are assessed, monitored and maintained.  Their pioneering DPL technology allows operators to ‘see’ hidden defects in solar panels in broad daylight, providing rapid, high-resolution diagnostics.

At UNSW, Professor Bram Hoex and his research group are leading the international effort to understand, quantify and standardise how UV-induced degradation (UVID) should be tested and mitigated in modern silicon solar cells, suppported by the Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics.