Engineers set world efficiency record for emerging solar cell material, antimony chalcogenide, achieving an efficiency of 10.7%, the highest independently verified performance to date

Hi r/science, sharing this study detailing a new efficiency record our researchers have set for the emerging solar cell material, antimony chalcogenide.

The team have achieved an efficiency of 10.7%, the highest verified efficiency for antimony chalcogenide.

Antimony chalcogenide is a promising material for the next generation of solar panels using tandem cells, where two or more solar cells are stacked on top of each other. It is made from abundant elements that cost relatively little to produce, is inorganic, and its high light absorption coefficient means a layer only 300 nanometres thick, about one-thousandth the thickness of a human hair, is enough to harvest sunlight efficiently.

The efficiency of antimony chalcogenide had not progressed past 10% since 2020 as developments stalled, but this latest research has found the major problem was caused by the elements that make up the material, sulfur and selenium, not being distributed evenly as it was produced.

Excitingly, this result has earned antimony chalcogenide its first ever inclusion in the international Solar Cell Efficiency Tables: [https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pip.3867](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pip.3867)

Here’s a link to the full paper if you would like to check it out: [https://www.nature.com/articles/s41560-025-01952-0](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41560-025-01952-0)

Let us know if you have any questions on the study!