The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) funded the work, which was supported by the Australia-US Institute for Advanced Photovoltaics.
Australian firm RayGen Resources developed the power towers and provided design as well as technical support for the high efficiency prototype.
UNSW researchers achieved the record efficiency in outdoor testing in Sydney in late October, using a Solar Power Cube system.
The PV system prototype was then transported to the US for re-testing at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Colorado in early November.
A custom optical bandpass filter was used to capture sunlight, which is generally wasted by commercial solar cells on towers, and convert it to energy.
UNSW scientia professor and director of the Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics (ACAP) professor Martin Green said: "This is the highest efficiency ever reported for sunlight conversion into electricity.
"The new results are based on the use of focused sunlight, and are particularly relevant to photovoltaic power towers being developed in Australia."
ARENA CEO Ivor Frischknecht said the breakthrough could have practical applications for concentrated solar power PV towers, where sunlight is reflected from a field of sun tracking mirrors towards a central receiver.
"Instead of using mirrors to heat a medium like salt, the high tech receiver converts light to electricity directly, like a rooftop solar panel does."
Image: University of New South Wales (UNSW)has been able to convert more than 40% of the sunlight hitting a solar system into electricity. Photo: Courtesy of University of New South Wales.
