Formation of silver nanoparticles and their application for suppressing surface reflection ofn-type silicon

Abstract

In this paper silver-assisted chemical etching (SACE) was studied to increase roughness and reduce light reflection from the surface of n-type (100) mono-crystalline silicon. SACE process includes two basic steps which are silver deposition and chemical etching step. Simple electroless silver deposition step using mixture of AgNO 3 and HF was utilized to form silver nanoparticles onto n-type silicon surface. Following chemical etching step was carried out by immersing samples in mixture of HF and H 2 O 2 . Concentration of AgNO 3 in eletroless deposition step and concentration of HF in chemical etching step were investigated to get minimum reflectance. The surface of sample was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and sample reflectance was measured at the wavelength range from 350-1100 nm. The results show that reflectance depends on AgNO 3 concentration in electroless deposition step and HF concentration in etching step and the minimum solar-weighted reflectance is 1.74%. This method can be considered as simple, inexpensive method to effectively increase roughness and suppress light reflection for photovoltaic, optoelectronic, sensor, photonic applications.

Photoelectrocatalytic activity of silicon nanowires decorated with electroless copper nanoparticles and graphene oxide using a plasma jet for removal of methyl orange under visible light

“…Silicon nanowires (Si NWs ) have gained interest in the last few years due to their versatility and properties like absorption, light emission, catalytic activity, and a wide range of applications. Among all its applications, they can be exploited for photocatalysis, [7][8][9][10] solar water splitting, 11,12 detection of molecules, [13][14][15] light trapping, 16,17 reduction of metals, 18 storage and energy conversion, 19 CO 2 reduction, 20,21 hydrogen generation, 22 and many other applications. Moreover, it has been reported that the decoration of silicon nanowires with metallic nanoparticles can enhance their catalytic properties, especially for electron discharging.…”

CoO, Cu, and Ag Nanoparticles on Silicon Nanowires with Photocatalytic Activity for the Degradation of Dyes

“…Some etching mechanisms have been proposed to explain the MACE process. A reduction reaction for the cathodic process implies the decomposition of H 2 O 2 at the metallic surface in acidic conditions [46][47][48][49][50].…”