Title: Nano-silver arrays assisted chemical etching and catalysed texturing of silicon wafers for solar cells

Authors: Zongcun Liang; Haifeng Zhang; Senrong Chen

Addresses: School of Physics and Engineering, Institute for Solar Energy Systems, State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China ' School of Physics and Engineering, Institute for Solar Energy Systems, State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China ' School of Physics and Engineering, Institute for Solar Energy Systems, State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China

Abstract: Metal assisted chemical etching (MACE) is a neoteric method for texturing treatment of silicon surface. In this paper, a low-cost method used for preparing nano-silver particles for catalysing to form texturing of silicon wafers is introduced. Polyethylene glycol is utilised as reductant in the AgNO₃ solution to prepare nano-silver particles and then the nano-silver particles are transferred to the p-type (1 0 0) silicon surface. After immersing the samples in the etchant consisted of HF and H₂O₂, the reflectivity of the silicon wafers could reduce to 5.79% throughout the spectrum of the wavelength from 400 to 1,000 nm. The optimal ratio of each constituent of the etchant is HF (49%): H₂O₂ (30%): H₂O = 1:2:10 in volume, and the optimal etching time is 3 min.

Keywords: nano-silver particles; nanoparticles; metal assisted chemical etching; MACE; texturing; reflectivity; nanotechnology; nano-silver arrays; silicon wafers; solar cells.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNM.2013.056045

International Journal of Nanomanufacturing, 2013 Vol.9 No.3/4, pp.213 - 220

Received: 09 Oct 2012
Accepted: 29 Oct 2012
Published online: 31 Mar 2014 *

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