Ultrafast Random‐Pyramid Texturing for Efficient Monocrystalline Silicon Solar Cells

Abstract

Herein, an ultrafast random‐pyramid texturing process is proposed for monocrystalline silicon (mono‐Si) solar cells by combining metal‐catalyzed chemical etching (MCCE) and the standard alkaline texturing process. Namely, large numbers of artificial defects are introduced on the wafer surface in 3 min by MCCE; therefore, the process duration of alkaline texturing is largely shortened from 420 s for the as‐cut wafer to 180 s for the wafer with artificial defects due to its high surface reactivity. Moreover, those tiny artificial defects are apt to form small pyramids, resulting in a better light‐trapping performance. As a demonstration, the passivated emitter rear contact solar cell with ultrafast random pyramid texture achieves a power conversion efficiency of 23.02%. Therefore, such a cost‐effective ultrafast texturing strategy can open a promising new route toward the mass production of high‐efficiency industrial mono‐Si solar cells.