A large-volume manufacturing of multi-crystalline silicon solar cells with 18.8% efficiency incorporating practical advanced technologies

Abstract

The optimization processes for the mass-production of high-efficiency multi-crystalline silicon solar cells have been observed in this paper. After incorporating several practical advanced technologies such as grain-size controlled low defect-density mc-Si casting ingot, precisely aligned selective emitter, surfacedamage free reactive ion etch texturing on a mass production line, the total-area efficiencies up to 18.84% and a production average efficiency of 18.65% for large size (156 Â 156 mm 2 ) multi-crystalline silicon (mc-Si) solar cells have been demonstrated, equating to an absolute efficiency gain of 1.58% compared to a conventional solar cell. The corresponding module power is 270.3 W, a 20 W increase over a conventional 60-cell mc-Si module of the same dimensions. These results demonstrate a successful transfer of advanced techniques from laboratory to large scale industrial production, which promote the mc-Si solar cells taking a big step forward in solar cells applications.

Review of status developments of high-efficiency crystalline silicon solar cells

“…Up to now, crystalline silicon solar cells including polycrystalline and monocrystalline technologies are the most important photovoltaic technology with a global photovoltaic market share of about 90%. At present, polycrystalline and monocrystalline silicon solar cells with traditional aluminum back surface field process have achieved efficiency of 19.8% and 18.5%, respectively [2][3][4][5], very close to the limit of the current crystalline silicon production line. In order to further enhance the cell efficiency and reduce the cost and then achieve the goal of PV grid parity, the major PV companies such as Solar World, Trina Solar, JinKo Solar, Canadian Solar Inc., Hebei JA Solar, GCL Solar Energy, Wuxi Suntech, and Zhejiang Astronergy have turned to research and development of a variety of high-efficiency, low-cost crystalline silicon solar cells [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13].…”

Recent Developments and Applications of Nanocomposites in Solar Cells: a Review

“…They enjoy a photovoltaic market share of nearly 90% globally, thus they can be considered the most substantial photovoltaic technology. Currently, monocrystalline and polycrystalline silicon solar cells with common surface field process of Al-back have shown the efficiency value of 18.5% and 19.8%, respectively [23][24][25][26], which is very similar to the limit of the common production line of crystalline silicon. The solar cells are made of crystalline silicon produce PV power that includes the following physical processes: (i) absorption photon resulting in the excitation of the pairs of electron hole and (ii) dissociation and transportation process to the external electrodes for electron-hole pairs [27][28][29][30][31][32] .…”