Abstract
In the present paper, spherical silver powders of three different sizes (0.5–2.0 µm) and high dispersity were synthesized by a chemical reduction method using ascorbic acid as reducing agent and silver nitrate as oxidant. Then the properties of three back-side silver pastes made of spherical silver powders with three different sizes (D90 < 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 µm) were investigated when these back-side silver pastes were printed and further formed to back-side electrodes on solar cells. The results showed that the surface consistency, weldability and welding tension of the back-side silver electrodes, as well as the photoelectric conversion efficiency of the solar cells increased with the decreasing of silver particle size. A series of comparative experiments confirmed that the spherical silver powder (a) with the size of D90 < 1.0 µm was optimal for making back-side silver paste. The average welding tension of formed back-side silver electrode and the photoelectric conversion efficiency of the solar cells have reached 7.6 N and 17.60 %, respectively, which meet the requirements of current commercialization for back-side silver pastes. In addition, the electrical performance of back-side silver pastes with different silver contents was also investigated. In order to reach the demands of the highest photoelectric conversion efficiency and the lowest cost for back-side silver pastes, the back-side silver pastes prepared by silver powder (D90 < 1.0 µm) with the content of 54.72 wt% was found to be optimal.
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Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful to the financial supports of the National Hi-Tech Research and Development Program (863) Key Project of China (No. 2012AA050301-SQ2011GX01D01292), China International Science and Technology Cooperation Special Program (No. 2010DFB60400), Major Science and Technology Innovation Subject Fund of Shaanxi Province (No. 2010ZKC03-14), Xi’an Industrial Technology Innovation Project-technology transfer promoting program (No.CX1242, CXY1123-5, CX12182-3, CX12182-2). The authors also thank the State Key Laboratory of Continental Dynamics for the SEM measurements.
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Li, R., Tai, Y., Bai, J. et al. Effect of spherical silver powders with different sizes in back electrode paste on the conversion efficiency of silicon solar cells. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 26, 2471–2479 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-015-2708-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-015-2708-x