Improvement of etching ability of lead-free glass frits by compositing low content PbO nanoparticles and its effect on metallization contact of solar cells

Numerous research studies have been conducted on lead-free glass frits for crystalline silicon solar cells due to the high toxicity of Pb. However, lead-free glass frits have poor metallization performance. The excellent per-formance of PbO in glass frits cannot be completely replaced by other compounds. In this study, in order to reduce the PbO content in glass frits while keeping its excellent properties, a method for the preparation of low -content lead oxide composited glass frits was established. High temperature microscopy revealed that the temperature coefficients of the glass frit decreased as the lead content increased. FT-IR and Raman spectroscopy results indicated that the main structure of the glass remain intact under compositing PbO. The specific surface area of the glass frit increased after compositing PbO. The etching ability of lead-free glass frit to silicon wafer was improved. After the glass frit was prepared into silver paste, it found that the silver electrode formed excellent metallized contact with silicon and more silver microcrystals were deposited on the silicon surface to increase the conductive path.

Automated summary

Numerous research studies have been conducted on lead-free glass frits for crystalline silicon solar cells due to the high toxicity of Pb. However, lead-free glass frits have poor metallization performance. In this study, a method for preparing low-content lead oxide composited glass frits was established to reduce PbO content while maintaining excellent properties. The addition of PbO improved the etching ability of the glass frit and resulted in increased conductive path when prepared into silver paste.