Silver-lean metallisation
Fine-line printing, reduced-silver pastes and hybrid plated contacts for industrial silicon solar cells.
TOPCon · Screen printing · PlatingMetalization @ Sustainability Lab · UNSW
Sustainable solar-cell manufacturing.
A UNSW research group advancing silver-lean contact structures, silicon-cell reliability and resource-efficient photovoltaic manufacturing.
Research contribution
Silver-lean seed-layer contacts
A sparse seed layer separates silicon-contact coverage from the main conductive grid, reducing silver use while remaining compatible with screen-printed manufacturing.
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Silver-lean metallisation
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Silicon reliability
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Industrial translation
Research
Connecting materials with manufacturing.
Our work combines contact formation, silicon defect engineering and sustainability analysis with production-relevant processes.
Hydrogen & reliability
Hydrogen passivation, laser processing and degradation control for stable, high-performance silicon devices.
Passivation · LeTID · Laser processesAbundant materials
Copper, silver-coated copper and other contact pathways that reduce dependence on constrained materials.
Copper · Substitution · ReliabilityManufacturing translation
Process windows, diagnostics and sustainability metrics designed around industrial production needs.
Validation · Characterisation · LCAPeople
Research leadership
The group brings together expertise in silicon photovoltaics, metallisation, reliability and technology translation.
Research lead · Associate Professor & Scientia Fellow
Brett Hallam
Brett leads research on sustainable photovoltaic manufacturing, advanced cell architectures, hydrogen passivation, laser processing and material constraints at scale.
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Translation & reliability · Senior Lecturer
Catherine Chan
Catherine works across industrial silicon solar cells, laser processes, hydrogen passivation, degradation control and technology translation.
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Research & partnerships · Senior Lecturer
Li Wang
Li’s work spans silver-lean metallisation, hybrid contacts, silicon-cell reliability and photovoltaic sustainability assessment.
View UNSW profile↗Wider team
Researchers & collaborators
A broader network contributes expertise across photovoltaic sustainability, silicon reliability, industrial processing and circular manufacturing.
Research environment
From laboratory process to manufacturing relevance.
The programme connects device fabrication and characterisation with the process conditions used in solar-cell manufacturing.
News & activities
Research in motion
Publications, conferences, project milestones and news from across the group’s research programme.
Rethinking silver for industrial solar manufacturing
ACAP featured the team’s production-compatible, silver-lean contact approach and its pathway towards materially sustainable photovoltaics.
View ↗Highest-ranked abstract at SiliconPV 2025
Li Wang presented Ultra-Lean Silver Screen-Printing for Sustainable Terawatt-Scale PV at the SiliconPV conference in Oxford.
View ↗Production-Ready Silver Revolution at APSRC
A conference presentation on reducing silver consumption in industrial TOPCon cells through screen-printing metallisation.
View ↗Silver-lean manufacturing and sustainable PV systems
Two ARENA-supported programmes led by Brett Hallam address silver consumption and material use at terawatt scale.
View ↗80% reduction in silver consumption for industrial TOPCon
Peer-reviewed work demonstrating a silver-lean screen-printing route for industrial solar-cell manufacturing.
View ↗Sustainability and circularity at EU PVSEC
UNSW researchers presented work spanning deployment emissions, PV manufacturing and end-of-life module recycling.
View ↗Join & collaborate
PhD research and long-term partnerships.
We welcome enquiries throughout the year from prospective doctoral researchers, research organisations and industry partners.
PhD opportunities
We are continually interested in strong PhD candidates working across silicon photovoltaics, metallisation, reliability, sustainability and advanced manufacturing.
Contact the group↓Research & industry collaboration
We work with cell manufacturers, materials and equipment suppliers, research institutes and technology partners on applied research and translation.
Contact the group↓Research & collaboration
Contact us
For research collaboration, industry enquiries and potential projects, please contact Li Wang.
Research & industry enquiries
li.wang3@unsw.edu.au↗Li Wang
Senior Lecturer