DOI: https://doi.org/10.14710/ijred.2022.38538

Investigations on the Influence of Surface Textures on Optical Reflectance of Multi-crystalline Silicone (MC-Si) Crystal Surfaces-Simulations and Experiments

Department of Mechanical Engineering, NSS College of Engineering Palakkad, Kerala 678008, India

Received: 24 May 2021; Revised: 26 Nov 2021; Accepted: 28 Dec 2021; Available online: 10 Jan 2022; Published: 5 May 2022.
Editor(s): H Hadiyanto
Open Access Copyright (c) 2022 The Authors. Published by Centre of Biomass and Renewable Energy (CBIORE)
Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Citation Format:
Abstract
MC-Si is the most widely used material for making solar PV cells. In spite of the considerable research on improving the conversion efficiency of MC-Si solar PV cells still it remains well within the range of 15-20%. Optical reflectance being the major loss of incident solar energy, efforts are being made to reduce the optical reflectance of solar cell surfaces. Among the several methods proposed, creation of well-defined surface topography on the cell surface remains a promising option. Micro/nano level features with various dimensions and distributions have been created on MC-Si crystal surfaces using a femto-second pulsed laser and the influence of surface topography on optical reflectance in the incident light wave length of 350 – 1000 nm have been studied and compared with the simulation results obtained using OPAL2 software. Experimental results indicate that surface textures on the wafer surface lead to the reduction of optical reflectance in the range of 20-35% in comparison with plain surface. Width of micro grooves have less significant effect on the optical reflectance in comparison with pitch between the micro grooves. Best reduction in reflectance is exhibited by the texture having a groove width of 30 mm and a pitch of 100 mm. A post texturing etching operation is found to have detrimental effect on the ability of micro/nano level features in decreasing the optical reflectance in the preferred wavelength of solar spectrum due to the flattening of nano level features created within the micro grooves due to laser texturing.
Fulltext View|Download
Keywords: Laser texturing; Surface texture; Etching Multi crystalline Silicone; Reflectance
Funding: Kerala state council for science technology and environment wide ETP/13/2017/KSCSTE -12/08/2018

Article Metrics:

Article Info
Section: Original Research Article
Language : EN
Recent articles
Impact of Accumulated Dust on Performance of Two Types of Photovoltaic Cells: Evidence from the South of Jordan Substitution Garden and Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) Plastic Waste as Refused Derived Fuel (RDF) Techno-economic Analysis of Wind Turbines Powering Rural of Malaysia Enhanced Geothermal Systems – Promises and Challenges Mathematical Model of the Thermal Performance of Double-Pass Solar Collector for Solar Energy Application in Sierra Leone Bioconversion of Industrial Cassava Solid Waste (Onggok) to Bioethanol Using a Saccharification and Fermentation process More recent articles
Most cited articles
Biogas Production in Dairy Farming in Indonesia: A Challenge for Sustainability Fractional Order Sliding Mode Control of PMSG-Wind Turbine Exploiting Clean Energy Resource Multi-Feedstocks Biodiesel Production from Esterification of Calophyllum inophyllum Oil, Castor Oil, Palm Oil and Waste Cooking Oil The Costs of Producing Biodiesel from Microalgae in the Asia-Pacific Region A Review on Solar PV Based Grid Connected Microinverter Control Schemes and Topologies More cited articles
  1. Binetti, S. Le Donne, A. Rolfi, A. Jäggi, B. Neuenschwander, B. Busto, C. Frigeri, C. Scorticati, D. Longoni, L. & Pellegrino, S. (2016) Picosecond laser texturization of mc-silicon for photovoltaics: A comparison between 1064nm, 532nm and 355nm radiation wavelengths, Applied Surface Science. 371, 196–202
  2. Chuqi Yi, Fa-Jun Ma, Hidenori Mizuno, Kikuo Makita, Takeyoshi Sugaya, Hidetaka Takato, Hamid Mehrvarz, Stephen Bremner, & Anita Ho-Baillie, (2020) Application of polydimethylsiloxane surface texturing on III-V//Si tandem achieving more than 2 % absolute efficiency improvement, Optics Express 28(3), 3895-3904 • https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.380972
  3. Dang, C. Labie, R. Tous, L. Russell, R. Recaman, M, Deckers, J. Uruena, A, Duerinckx, F. & Poortmans, J. (2014) Investigation of laser ablation induced defects in crystalline silicon solar cells, Energy Procedia, 55. 649–655. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egypro.2014.08.040
  4. Dobrzański L.A. & Drygała, A. (2007) Laser processing of multicrystalline silicon for texturization of solar cells, Journal of Material Processing Technology, 191(1), 228–231. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jmatprotec.2007.03.009
  5. Forbes, L. (2012) Texturing, reflectivity, diffuse scattering and light trapping in silicon solar cells, Solar Energy, 86(1),.319–325. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2011.10.003
  6. Gao, Y. Wu, B. Zhou, Y. & Tao, S. (2011) A two-step nanosecond laser surface texturing process with smooth surface finish, Applied Surface Science, 257(23), 9960–9967. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2011.06.115
  7. Gulomov, J., Aliev, R., Mirzaalimov, A., Mirzaalimov, N., Kakhkhorov, J., Rashidov, B., & Temirov, S. (2021) Studying the Effect of Light Incidence Angle on Photoelectric Parameters of Solar Cells by Simulation. International Journal of Renewable Energy Development, 10(4), 731-736. https://doi.org/10.14710/ijred.2021.36277
  8. Hamdani, D., Prayogi, S., Cahyono, Y., Yudoyono, G., & Darminto, D. (2022). The Effects of Dopant Concentration on the Performances of the a-SiOx:H(p)/a-Si:H(i1)/a-Si:H(i2)/µc-Si:H(n) Heterojunction Solar Cell. International Journal of Renewable Energy Development, 11(1), 173-181. https://doi.org/10.14710/ijred.2022.40193
  9. Hong Z., Bin Ding, & Tianhang Chen, (2016) A High Efficiency Industrial Polysilicon Solar Cell with a Honeycomb-Like Surface Fabricated by Wet Etching Using a Photoresist Mask, Applied Surface Science .doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2016.07.039
  10. Hong, S., Zou, Y., Ma, L. et al. (2021), Surface Texturing Behavior of Nano-Copper Particles under Copper-Assisted Chemical Etching with Various Copper Salts System. Silicon. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12633-021-01359-y
  11. Iyengar,V. V. Nayak, B R.& Gupta, M.C.(2010) Optical properties of silicon light trapping structures for photovoltaics, Solar Energy Materials & Solar Cells 94 (12), 2251–2257. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2010.07.020
  12. Jung Y, Ko J, Bae S, Kang Y & Lee H S,(2020) Effective Surface Texturing of Diamond-Wire-Sawn Multicrystalline Silicon Wafers Via Crystallization of the Native Surface Amorphous Layer, IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics DOI: 10.1109/JPHOTOV.2020.3035122
  13. Kim J H, You S & Kim C K,(2020) Surface Texturing of Si with Periodically Arrayed Oblique Nanopillars to Achieve Antireflection, Materials 2021, 14(2), 380; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma14020380
  14. Liu, S. Niu, X. Shan, W. Lu, W. Zheng, J. Li, Y. Duan, H. Quan, W. Han, W. Wronski C. R. & Yang, D. (2014) Improvement of conversion efficiency of multicrystalline silicon solar cells by incorporating reactive ion etching texturing,” Solar Energy Materials & Solar Cells 127. 21–26. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2014.04.001
  15. Malcolm A. &Jeffrey C. (2006) Optical and electrical properties of laser texturing for high-efficiency solar cells, Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications, 14:225-235. https://doi.org/10.1002/pip.667
  16. Abdul Razak N H, Sopian K, Nowshad Amin & Md. Akhtaruzzaman, (2020) Investigation on the post-treatment after pulsed Nd:YAG laser texturing on silicon solar cells surfaces 11387, Proceedings volume 11387 Energy Harvesting and Storage: Materials, Devices, and Applications, https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2572780
  17. OPAL 2 Wafer ray tracer algorithm, official website https://www2.pvlighthouse.com.au/calculators/wafer racer.html : (Accessed on 10 May 2021)
  18. Pourakbar Saffar, A., & Deldadeh Barani, B. (2014). Thermal effects investigation on electrical properties of silicon solar cells treated by laser irradiation. International Journal of Renewable Energy Development, 3(3), 184 - 187. https://doi.org/10.14710/ijred.3.3.184-187
  19. Reddy, M V Julian, C. M. Alain Mauger, & Karim Zhagib, (2020), Sulfide and Oxide Inorganic Solid Electrolytes for All-Solid-State Li Batteries: A Review, Nanomaterials, 10(8), 1606, https://doi.org/10.3390/nano10081606
  20. Ruby, D. S. Zaidi, S. H. Narayanan, S. Damiani, B. M. & Rohtagi, A. (2008) RIE -texturing of multi-crystalline silicon solar cells, Journal of Achievements in. Materials and Manufacturing Engineering, 31(1) 77–82. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0927-0248 (02)00057-0
  21. Sreejith K P, Sharma A K, Kumbhar S, Kottantharayil A, & Basu P K, (2019) An additive-free non-metallic energy efficient industrial texturization process for diamond wire sawn multicrystalline silicon wafers, Solar Energy, 184, 162–172
  22. Srivastava, S. K. Kumar, D. Vandana, M. Sharma, Kumar, R & Singh, P. K (2012) Silver catalyzed nano-texturing of silicon surfaces for solar cell applications, Solar Energy Materials Solar Cells 100, 33–38. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2011.05.003
  23. Srivastava, S. K., Singh, P., Yameen, M., Prathap, P., Rauthan, C. M. S & Singh, P. K (2015) Antireflective ultra-fast nanoscale texturing for efficient multi-crystalline silicon solar cells, Solar Energy, 115. 656–666. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2015.03.010
  24. Sudeep, U., Tandon, N. & Pandey, R. K. (2014) Performance of Lubricated Rolling/Sliding Concentrated Contacts with Surface Textures: A Review, Transactions of ASME, Journal of Tribology, DOI: 10.1115/1.4029770
  25. Tripathi, A. K., Aruna, M., & Murthy, C. (2017). Performance Evaluation of PV Panel Under Dusty Condition. International Journal of Renewable Energy Development, 6(3), 225-233. https://doi.org/10.14710/ijred.6.3.225-233
  26. Yoo, J., Cho, J.-S., Ahn, S., Gwak, J., Cho, A., Eo Y.J. Yun J.H, Yoon K. & Yi, J. (2013) Random reactive ion etching texturing techniques for application of multi-crystalline silicon solar cells, Thin Solid Films, 546, 275–278. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsf.2013.02.045
  27. Yoo, J. Yu, G. & Yi, J. (2011) Large-area multicrystalline silicon solar cell fabrication using reactive ion etching (RIE), Sol. Energy Mater. Sol. Cells, 95, (1). 2–6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2010.03.029
  28. Zhao, J., Wang, A., & Campbell, P., (1999) A 19.8% efficient honeycomb multi-crystalline silicon solar cell with improved light trapping,” IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, 46(10), 1978–1983. https://doi.org/10.1109/16.791985
  29. Zielke, D., Sylla, T., Neubert, R., Brendel & Schmidt. J., (2012) Direct laser texturing for high-efficiency silicon solar cells, IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, 2156-3381. https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2012.2228302
  30. Zhu peining, Wu Yogzhi , Reddy M. V. et al. (2012) TiO2 nanoparticles synthesized by the molten salt method as a dual functional material for dye-sensitized solar cells, RSC Advances, 2, 5123-5126, https://doi.org/10.1039/C2RA00041E
  31. Zhu, P. Ramana Reddy, M. V., Wu, Y., Peng, S., Yang, S., Nair, A. S., Loh, K. P., Chowdari, B. V. R., & Ramakrishna, S.,(2012) Mesoporous SnO 2 agglomerates with hierarchical structures as an efficient dual-functional material for dye-sensitized solar cells, Chemical Communications, 48, 10865-10867. https://doi.org/10.1039/C2CC36049G

Last update:

  1. A Method for Fast Identification of Orientation Parameters of Multicrystalline Silicon

    S. M. Pesherova, E. A. Osipova, A. G. Chueshova, S. S. Kolesnikov, M. Yu. Ryb’yakov, A. A. Kuznetsov, V. L. Arshinskii. Optoelectronics, Instrumentation and Data Processing, 58 (6), 2022. doi: 10.3103/S8756699022060085

  2. Highly regular laser-induced periodic silicon surface modified by MXene and ALD TiO2 for organic pollutants degradation

    Andrii Lys, Iaroslav Gnilitskyi, Emerson Coy, Mariusz Jancelewicz, Oleksiy Gogotsi, Igor Iatsunskyi. Applied Surface Science, 640 , 2023. doi: 10.1016/j.apsusc.2023.158336

Last update: 2024-04-17 07:19:52

No citation recorded.