Nathan L. Chang

As annual photovoltaics (PV) deployment accelerates toward the terawatt scale, the industry faces three linked challenges: material constraints, cost competitiveness, and environmental performance. Conventional frameworks tend to treat these as competing objectives, where gains in one area incur losses in another. Here, we apply a “smart sustainability” framework to demonstrate how targeted design and material strategies can advance multiple objectives simultaneously. We present updated material learning curves and analyse how material intensity, embodied emissions, and energy return on investment (EROI) co‐evolve with deployment scale. Silicon and silver demonstrate that sustained reductions in specific consumption can simultaneously lower cost, ease supply pressure, and – particularly in the case of silicon – cut emissions. Advanced metallisation innovations offer promising pathways to sustain this trend, while next‐generation cells can introduce new material dependencies. The different frame materials and mounting configurations are also critical factors in optimising PV sustainability. In recent technological advancements, the EROI of PV is expected to further improve to global‐average values of >25, far exceeding the minimum EROI threshold required to sustain modern societies. Together, these findings demonstrate that performance and sustainability are not inherently competing objectives – and that system‐level optimisation can unlock pathways where all three advance together.

Elevated operating temperatures for photovoltaic modules remain a critical challenge for PV systems, particularly in regions with high irradiance. High temperatures lower efficiency and accelerate module degradation. Single-axis trackers generally rely on algorithms that maximize irradiance capture. To tackle the dual challenge of maximizing production while preventing overheating, we propose a thermal-aware tracking algorithm. The method substantially reduces module temperatures during inverter clipping, a common occurrence in PV systems with high dc/ac ratios. By moderating plane-of-array irradiance (POAI) only when excess power cannot be exported, the algorithm reduces the module temperature without compromising energy yield. Validation using an advanced thermal model that accounts for wind-driven convection and radiative exchange with the sky shows that, under the climatic and operational conditions in Chile, the algorithm performs best when panels are oriented closer to horizontal. Implemented on a solar tracker in northern Chile, the algorithm achieved module temperature reductions of up to 7.7 °C along with decreased UV exposure, enhancing thermal performance without compromising system output and thereby improving efficiency while minimizing degradation.

Singlet fission photovoltaics enable the extraction of two electron-hole pairs from each higher-energy photon while leveraging a mature technology such as crystalline silicon (c-Si) as the underlying cell. Significant steps have been made in the development of singlet fission silicon photovoltaics, but all examples reported to date use tetracene as the singlet fission material. Tetracene is photochemically unstable and therefore unsuitable for commercial applications. Here we demonstrate singlet fission-derived triplet exciton transfer to c-Si from photochemically stable dipyrrolonaphthyridinedione (DPND) derivatives, with a thin layer of tin oxide as the passivation layer. An overlayer of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) was found to improve interface passivation further. These observations demonstrate that singlet fission photovoltaic devices can be made using stable and commercially viable materials.

Photovoltaic expansion may face critical supply shortage: low-iron sand and glass factory capacity constraints.

Over 29%-efficient monolithic perovskite/Si tandem solar cells based on a poly-Si/SiO₂ passivating contact solar cell.