Formation of nanostructured emitter for silicon solar cells using catalytic silver nanoparticles

• Published in: Applied surface science Vol. 264; pp. 621 - 624
• Main Authors: Li, Dan, Wang, Lei, Li, Dongsheng, Zhou, Ning, Feng, Zhiqiang, Zhong, Xiaoping, Yang, Deren
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01.01.2013; Elsevier
• Subjects: Ag nanoparticles; Antireflection; Chemical etching; Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties; Condensed matter: structure, mechanical and thermal properties; Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Exact sciences and technology; Nanoporous silicon; Physics; Silicon solar cell; Silicon solar cell; Nanoporous silicon; Ag nanoparticles; Antireflection; Chemical etching; Nanoparticles; Silver; Silicon solar cells; Transition elements; Silicon
• ISSN: 0169-4332; 1873-5584
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apsusc.2012.10.079

[Display omitted] ► Nanoporous silicon was made on the emitter by size-controlled Ag nanoparticles catalyzed etching. ► The reflectivity of the nanoporous surface and electrical properties of the solar cells were characterized. ► The efficiency improvement was mainly due to the significantly increasing of short-circuit current. ► We report a nanoporous silicon solar cell with a 15.7%-efficiency without any passivation coating. A simple process for nanotexturing on the emitter of silicon solar cells using catalyzed wet chemical etching by size-controlled silver nanoparticles was reported. A fine textured black surface was achieved to realize the low light reflectivity less than 5%. After screen printing and firing by the industrial standard fabrication protocol, we obtained the nanotextured Si solar cells with 15.7%-efficiency without any additional antireflection (AR) coating. This result suggests that the inexpensive metal-assisted wet chemical nanotexture method is prospective to be used in photovoltaic industry.