Fields of Research (FoR)
Photovoltaic devices (solar cells), Functional materials, Theory and design of materials, Compound semiconductors, NanomaterialsBiography
Scientia Professor Xiaojing Hao, FAA, FTSE, FAIP, FRSC, School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering, UNSW
Scientia Prof Xiaojing Hao obtained her PhD in the School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering of UNSW in 2010, and currently the full Professor (tenured), ARC Laureate Fellow at UNSW. Prof Hao has focused her research on low-cost, high-efficiency thin film solar cells and tandem solar cells for nineteen years,...view more
Scientia Professor Xiaojing Hao, FAA, FTSE, FAIP, FRSC, School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering, UNSW
Scientia Prof Xiaojing Hao obtained her PhD in the School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering of UNSW in 2010, and currently the full Professor (tenured), ARC Laureate Fellow at UNSW. Prof Hao has focused her research on low-cost, high-efficiency thin film solar cells and tandem solar cells for nineteen years, researching on various energy materials, initially using Si, and then earth-abundant compound semiconductor materials such as chalcogenides and perovskite for both solar photovoltaic and solar fuel applications. Prof Hao now leads a strong group in the above areas, achieving a number of efficiency records on several emerging thin film solar cells. Prof Hao has published >220 peer-reviewed journal papers, including publications in Nature Energy, Nature Photonics, Energy and Environmental Science, with several awards for her research excellence. She was the recipient of Inaugural Australian Renewable Energy Agency Postdoc Fellow, previous ARC DECRA, ARC Future Fellow, inaugural Sciential Fellow at UNSW. She was awarded a number of prestigious national prizes, including 2020 Prime Minister’s Prizes for Science: Malcolm McIntosh Prize for Physical Scientist of the Year, 2021 Australian Academy of Science Pawsey Medal. She was elected to Fellow of ATSE in 2022 and Fellow of AAS in 2025.
My Grants
Selected Grants
ARC Grants
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Lead CI, FL250100162, ARC Laureate Fellowship, $3.737M, 2025-2030,
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Lead CI, LP240200606, ARC LP, $670,000 (ARC) and $300k (industry partner), 2025-2028
- Key CI, Deputy Director, IH240100012, ARC Industrial Transformation Research Hubs, $5M, 2024-2029
- Lead CI at UNSW, AUKRH00022, UK-Australia Renewable Hydrogen Innovation Partnerships Funding, 2024-2026, $1,396,414 ($701,921 allocated to UNSW)
- CI, LP220200721, ARC Linkage Projects, $262,168, 2023-2026
- Lead CI, DP230102463, ARC Discovery Project, $574k, 2023-2025
- Lead CI, LP210301308, ARC Linkage Project, $798k, 2022-2025
- Lead CI, LP200301593, ARC Linkage Project, $589,137, 2021-2024.
- CI, LE210100042, ARC LIEF, $1,060,000, 2021.
- CI, LE200100033, ARC LIEF, $1.1M, 2017.
- Lead CI, FT190100756, ARC Future Fellowship, $888,000, 2020-2024.
- CI, LE170100087, ARC LIEF, $1,100,000, 2017
- Lead CI, DE160101100, ARC DECRA, $310,000, 2016-2018
- Lead CI, DP160103433, ARC Discovery Project, $270,000, 2016-2018,
- Lead CI, LP150100911, ARC Linkage Project, $290,000 (ARC) and $300,000 (industry), 2015-2018.
- Lead CI, DP120103097, ARC Discovery Project, $330,000, 2012-2014
- CI, LP110201112, ARC Linkage Project, $600,000 (ARC) and $600,000 (industry), 2011-2014.
- Lead CI, LP110200651, ARC Linkage Project, $600,000 (ARC) and $200,000 (industry),2011-2014.
ARENA Grants
- Lead CI, ARENA 2022/TRAC006, $3,082,000, 2023-2027, “Efficient and Stable Chalcogenide-Si tandem cells: integrating commercialised PV technologies”.
- CI, ARENA 2022/TRAC005, $4,308,107, 2023-2028, "Cost-effective Si/perovskite tandem modules on passivating contact Si cells"
- CI, ARENA 2022/TRAC001, $2,727,949, 2023-2028, "Industrial high-throughput inspection methods for high efficiency multifunction solar cells"
- CI, ARENA 2022/TRAC002, $2,587,980, 2023-2028, "Machine learning applications for utility-scale PV"
- Lead CI, ARENA 2020/RND14, $793,388, 2020-2022, “Abundant RoHS-compliant antimony chalcogenide: top cell alternative for Si tandem cells”.
- CI, RND015, ARENA project, $1.045 M, 2018-2021 “A Zero-Emission Tandem Array for Transforming Waste Biomass into Renewable Hydrogen”.
- CI, RND011, ARENA project, $3.18M, 2018-2022. “Efficient adamantine thin film on silicon tandem solar cells: the next step in commercial cell evolution.”.
- Lead CI, 2017/RND006, ARENA project, $1.3M, 2018-2022. “Development of high-efficiency kesterite solar cells: win the PV race with sustainable low-cost, low-toxic and stable materials”.
- Lead CI, 1-USO028, ARENA United States- Australia Solar Energy Collaboration (USASEC) project, $2,612,358, 2013-2019, “Low-cost, high-efficiency Copper-Zinc-Tin-Sulphide (CZTS) on silicon multi-junction solar cells”.
- CI, 1-UFA002, ASI project, $1,265,000, 2012-2017, “Multi-junction c-Si Solar Cells Based on Virtual Ge Substrates”.
- CI, RND075, ARENA project, $3M, 2015-2018, “High-efficiency silicon/perovskite tandem cells and modules: demonstration and commercial evaluation”.
- Lead CI, 1-F002, Australia Solar Institute (ASI) and now Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) Research Fellowship, $360, 000, 2011-2014, “Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) thin film solar cell: a novel alternative for TW-level thin film PV”.
- Lead CI, ACAP Infrastructure grant, $465,700, 2020-2021, “Atmospherically-controlled PV processing and accelerated testing facility”.
- CI, ACAP Infrastructure grant, $390,688, 2020-2021, “Large Area Multi-Zone Solar simulator”.
- Lead CI, ACAP Infrastructure grant, $5.496M, 2020-2021, “Tandem Cluster”.
Other grant
- CI, IV240100020, AEA Innovate, $1M, 2025-2027
- Lead CI, JA Solar Green to Global, $644,984, 2025-2026
- CI, AEA Ignite seed business grant, $195,000, 2023
My Qualifications
Bachelor of Engineering 1996-2001
School of Materials and Metallurgy Science and Engineering (Selective Top Student Class)
Northeastern University, Shenyang, China
Master of Engineering 2001-2003
School of Materials and Metallurgy Science and Engineering
Northeastern University, Shenyang, China,
Doctor of Philosophy 2006-2010
School of Photovoltaics and Renewable Energy Engineering
The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
My Awards
Selected awards
2025 Finalist of Australian Museum Eureka Prizes in Scientific Research
2025 ARC Laureate Fellow
2025 Shortlisted for the Science Breakthrough of the Year 2025 by Falling Walls Science Foundation (shortlisted in Engineering and Technology category)
2025 Fellow, Australian Academy of Science
2024 Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researchers
2024 Fellow of RSC
2022 Fellow of ATSE
2021 Australian Academy of Science Pawsey Medal
2020 Prime Minister’s Prizes for Science: Malcolm McIntosh Prize for Physical Scientist of the Year
2019 ARC Future Fellow
2019 Australian’s Most Innovative Engineers 2019 (Research and Academia)
2018 UNSW Research Staff Excellence Award (Faculty of Engineering)
2018 NSW Premier’s Prizes for Science & Engineering (Energy Innovation in NSW)
2018 Best Poster Award, the 7th World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion (WCPEC-7, combining the most 3 prestigious world PV conferences)
2017 Finalist (Top 3) of UNSW Women in Engineering Awards of “Professor Judy Raper Award for Leadership in Engineering”
2017 UNSW Scientia Fellowship (Inaugural) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsP4YXsS18c
2015 ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA)
2015 UNSW one of “20 rising stars who will change our world” http://www.20risingstars.unsw.edu.au/next-generation-solar-cells
2011 Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) Postdoctoral Fellowship (2011-2013)
2009 Australian Academy of Technological Science and Engineering-Early Career Symposium Fellowship (ATSE-ECSF)
My Research Activities
Please see details in my research group website: https://www.xiaojingresearchgroup.com
My Research Supervision
Areas of supervision
Solar cell materials and devices
Solar fuel devices
Currently supervising
Please see details in my group website: https://www.xiaojingresearchgroup.com/
My Teaching
Engineering Postgraduate Coursework Research Skills GSOE9010
Vertically Integrated Projects
Advanced Photovoltaics (from 2023)
Follow
Publications
ORCID as entered in ROS
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5903-4481