Realization of improved efficiency on nanostructured multicrystalline silicon solar cells for mass production

Abstract

We report the realization of both excellent optical and electrical properties of nanostructured multicrystalline silicon solar cells by a simple and industrially compatible technique of surface morphology modification. The nanostructures are prepared by Ag-catalyzed chemical etching and subsequent NaOH treatment with controllable geometrical parameters and surface area enhancement ratio. We have examined in detail the influence of different surface area enhancement ratios on reflectance, carrier recombination characteristics and cell performance. By conducting a quantitative analysis of these factors, we have successfully demonstrated a higher-than-traditional output performance of nanostructured multicrystalline silicon solar cells with a low average reflectance of 4.93%, a low effective surface recombination velocity of 6.59 m s(-1), and a certified conversion efficiency of 17.75% on large size (156 × 156 mm(2)) silicon cells, which is ∼0.3% higher than the acid textured counterparts. The present work opens a potential prospect for the mass production of nanostructured solar cells with improved efficiencies.

Hybrid process for texturization of diamond wire sawn multicrystalline silicon solar cell

“…Es et al found that cell conversion efficiencies are observed to normally degrade with increasing lengths of nanowires . By optimizing the nanostructure and improving passivation effect, it has been demonstrated that MACE textured MWSS mc‐Si solar cell efficiency can be improved with silicon nanostructure . It is worth mentioning that high efficiency large scale nanostructure MWSS mc‐Si solar cells have been achieved in our group with MACE technique .…”

“…(d) and they were in a range of 400 nm. The restructured inverted pyramid structures presented a smoother surface for effective restriction of Auger recombination . It was worth mentioning that both cross‐sectional morphologies exhibited a continuous smooth surface.…”

Nanotextured multicrystalline Al-BSF solar cells reaching 18% conversion efficiency using industrially viable solar cell processes

“…The ADE nanostructures were shortly dipped in an alkaline solution in order to allow slight modification of the nanostructures. This modification of nanostructures has been applied to achieve improvement in electrical performance of nanotextured solar cells, comparable to the findings in [6][7][8][9][10]. Larger surface area of the nanotexture poses major challenges in surface passivation and emitter formation steps [3].…”

“…Significant improvements in conversion efficiency on nano‐textured monocrystalline Si surfaces were already reported . As outlined, gain in conversion efficiencies that were reported for mc‐Si solar cells based on nanotextured surfaces promises a great benefit to the photovoltaic community . Most of the reported efficiency gains for mc‐Si silicon are based on forming black silicon (b‐Si) texture by metal assisted etching process (MAE) or reactive ion etching and plasma processing .…”

Plasma nanotexturing of silicon surfaces for photovoltaics applications: influence of initial surface finish on the evolution of topographical and optical properties

“…Ongoing investigations continue to focus on several techniques that produce nanotextured silicon surfaces: metal-assisted chemical etching [6–8], colloidal lithography [9], femtosecond laser texturing [10,11], and plasma texturing [12–14]. For high efficiency, low cost c-Si solar cells, plasma assisted texturing appears to have significant advantages, notably the ability to process large area, thin wafers (thickness below 100 μm) on a single side, with reduced silicon removal.…”