A snapshot of ACAP’s 2025 progress in Emerging Materials development

While silicon still dominates today’s solar industry, ACAP’s Emerging Materials program is focused on what could power the next wave of ultra-low-cost, high-efficiency solar.

Presenting at the 2025 ACAP Conference on behalf of program lead Dr Anthony Chesman (CSIRO), Professor Jacek Jasieniak (Monash University) described the ACAP program landscape as “dominated by perovskites”, with important progress also in organic and kesterite (copper-zinc-tin-sulphide-selenide) solar cells.

Perovskites are leading contenders to contribute to efficiencies over 30% because they offer a rare combination:

• they can be tuned to absorb different colours of light

• use low-cost, abundant ingredients, and

• can be processed at low-temperatures using potentially very cheap methods.

Attendees at the 2025 ACAP Conference heard from Professor Jacek Jasieniak about progress in ACAP's Emerging Materials program.

ACAP’s 2025 world class emerging materials efficiency results

ACAP teams have delivered a string of world‑class results:

·      ANU achieved 26.7% certified efficiency for a perovskite cell – a record for an all-Australian team.

·      UNSW, working with Soochow University, reported 27% for a perovskite device.

·      UNSW also set a world record 10.7% efficiency for an antimony chalcogenide (Sb₂(S,Se)₃) solar cell, published in Nature Energy.

·      University of Melbourne reached 22% in an inverted perovskite device using passivated nickel oxide.

·      UQ demonstrated 5.4% in a high-performance homojunction organic solar cell – a challenging configuration in this material class.

·      CSIRO Manufacturing produced fully roll-to-roll fabricated flexible perovskite modules that have operated stably for more than 6,000 hours under continuous illumination.

·      University of Sydney pioneered CO₂ laser annealing for FAPbI₃ perovskites, achieving 22% efficiency in just 60 seconds on low temperature substrates.

The central challenges

Despite these headline numbers, Jasieniak stressed that the central challenge is unchanged: it is still hard to find a material that is simultaneously stable, efficient, and easy to manufacture at scale. Perovskite stability remains a key hurdle to market readiness. Jasieniak explained that early device architectures often degraded rapidly due to unstable transport layers and environmental exposure. “It’s about understanding the entire device stack,” he said, “not just the perovskite itself.”

High-bandgap photo-absorbers for tandem devices remain a challenge, as most materials to-date have been optimised for single-junction solar cells.  Tandem cells, with silicon as a bottom device, are going to need high-bandgap materials for top cells in the tandem. ACAP also faces the strategic tension of exploring many new material types while maintaining leadership in existing areas, and remaining engaged and competitive in the rapidly moving global sector. “Where do we contribute?” Jasieniak asked, noting that many companies are already advancing perovskite technologies at pace.

Acceleration pathways

The ACAP program is leaning into automation and machine learning (ML). Research teams are using ML models that directly predict device behaviour and guide experiments – including the record-setting fully roll-to-roll organic PV (CSIRO), and high-performance organic tandems (UQ).

World-first robotic materials discovery infrastructure at the Melbourne Centre for Nanofabrication is set to be operating in early 2026 and will target high-throughput materials screening. Access will be prioritised for ACAP members, providing a unique platform for coordinated discovery and optimisation.

One strategy to improve reliability of perovskite-based tandems is to tackle the device side. Several groups (UQ, University of Melbourne, UNSW and Monash) are showing that carefully designed interlayers and additives can significantly improve both efficiency and lifetime in perovskite solar cells, offering a pathway to generate new intellectual property.

Taken together, these advances demonstrate ACAP’s multi-node approach: leveraging deep scientific understanding, world-class infrastructure, and coordinated expertise across Australia to complement and lead global efforts. As Jasieniak concluded, the focus is not just on headline efficiencies, but on building the stable, scalable, next-generation solar technologies that can extend and enhance silicon’s dominance.