Volume 30, Issue 11 pp. 1343-1353
RESEARCH ARTICLE

A solid strategy to realize heteroface selective emitter and rear passivated silicon solar cells

Shuai Zou

Corresponding Author

Shuai Zou

School of Physical Science and Technology, and Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Thin Films, Soochow University, Suzhou, China

Correspondence

Shuai Zou and Xiaodong Su, School of Physical Science and Technology, and Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Thin Films, Soochow University, 1 Shizi Street, Suzhou 215006, China.

Email: [email protected]; [email protected]

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Xiaoya Ye

Xiaoya Ye

Research & Development Department, Canadian Solar Inc., Suzhou, China

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Jianming Ding

Jianming Ding

School of Physical Science and Technology, and Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Thin Films, Soochow University, Suzhou, China

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Chengkun Wu

Chengkun Wu

School of Physical Science and Technology, and Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Thin Films, Soochow University, Suzhou, China

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Shaozhou Wang

Shaozhou Wang

School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia

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Giuseppe Scardera

Giuseppe Scardera

School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia

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Malcolm Abbott

Malcolm Abbott

School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia

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Yu Zhang

Yu Zhang

School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia

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Ronglei Fan

Ronglei Fan

School of Physical Science and Technology, and Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Thin Films, Soochow University, Suzhou, China

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Yadong Xu

Yadong Xu

School of Physical Science and Technology, and Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Thin Films, Soochow University, Suzhou, China

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Xusheng Wang

Xusheng Wang

Research & Development Department, Canadian Solar Inc., Suzhou, China

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Mingrong Shen

Mingrong Shen

School of Physical Science and Technology, and Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Thin Films, Soochow University, Suzhou, China

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Xiaodong Su

Corresponding Author

Xiaodong Su

School of Physical Science and Technology, and Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Thin Films, Soochow University, Suzhou, China

Correspondence

Shuai Zou and Xiaodong Su, School of Physical Science and Technology, and Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Thin Films, Soochow University, 1 Shizi Street, Suzhou 215006, China.

Email: [email protected]; [email protected]

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First published: 31 May 2022
Citations: 1

Funding information: Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions; National Natural Science Foundation of China; National Key R&D Program of China

Abstract

Passivated emitter and rear cell (PERC) with laser-doped selective emitter (SE) has become mainstream in the PV industry. In this work, we report a solid strategy to realize heteroface monocrystalline silicon (mono-Si) wafers for PERC-SE solar cells by employing alkaline polishing to form a polished surface for the rear side and well-established metal-catalyzed chemical etching to form a honeycomb texture for the front side in one wet process successively. The key to success lies in the fact that the two back-to-back wafers inserted into one slot in the cassette are tightly attached together in MCCE etching so that only the exposed surfaces are etched to form textures, while the rear polished surfaces are still retained to avoid wrap-around etching. With the strategy, the mono-Si PERC-SE solar cells achieve an average efficiency of over 22.0%, no poorer than that of the reference system (traditional alkaline texturing and rear acidic polishing), and have good light trapping capability for oblique incident light. Moreover, the total Si removal in the novel process is only ~0.4 g, which is far less than that in the traditional process. More importantly, the strategy can also double the throughput of existing texturing processes and significantly reduce the amount of etching waste. Therefore, the work is expected to provide a promising way to mass produce efficient mono-Si PERC-SE solar cells with a superior rear surface, achieved without increasing the number of processing steps, and lower cost.

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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