The work was led by Scientia Professor Xiaojing Hao at UNSW’s School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering, with Dr Zhen (Jan) Li and Dr Ziyue Feng.

UtmoLight, a China-based company, contributed expertise in large-area processing and module fabrication.

The submodule measures 30cm by 30cm, with an aperture area of 676cm². Small laboratory cells are typically around 1cm². The announcement did not name the previous record holder, the certifying laboratory or the measurement standard.

The team removed the nickel oxide layer commonly used in perovskite cells. UNSW said the layer can react with the perovskite, adding instability and an extra manufacturing step.

Instead, a hole-selective contact forms directly during fabrication, rather than through layer-by-layer deposition. The team achieved this through new materials and a different fabrication approach.

Hao said the aim goes beyond setting another efficiency record. Materials that perform well in a small laboratory device do not necessarily behave the same way in larger areas, so the team is designing materials and interfaces that stay effective under the conditions needed for large-area fabrication.

The team hopes to produce a full-scale module with a 2.8m² area in the coming months, with the target efficiency for that module being around 18% to 19%.

Hao, speaking to PV Tech Premium , previously set out a staged efficiency roadmap for kesterite’s commercialisation, telling PV Tech that reaching around 20% efficiency would represent a genuine opportunity for commercial uptake , with intermediate targets of 15% and 17% needed to build confidence in the technology along the way.

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