Development of additive-assisted Ag-MACE for multicrystalline black Si solar cells

Abstract

The uniform distribution of silver nanoparticles on the surfaces of diamond-wire sawn multicrystalline silicon (mc-Si) is critical for the texturing of mc-Si by the Ag metal-assisted chemical etching method (Ag-MACE). In this study, an additive containing alkylphenol polyoxyethylene is developed to improve the Ag-MACE process. It enables an even deposition of the silver nanoparticles over the surface of the silicon wafer, so that the entire wafer surface can be uniformly textured with nanostructures. The experimental results show that the additive improves the appearance and performance of solar cells, including their reflectivity, efficiency, internal quantum efficiency and external quantum efficiency. Mass-produced mc-Si solar cells textured using Ag-MACE with this additive have achieved a maximum efficiency of 19.51%, compared with an efficiency of 19.16% for cells fabricated without the additive. Keywords: Multicrystalline silicon, Solar cell, Diamond wire saw, Metal-assisted chemical etching, Uniform textures, Additive