Rare-earth element doping in glass frit for improved performance in silicon solar cells

Abstract

Glass frit plays an important role in the silver paste for silicon solar cells. In this work, we prepare glass frit doped with different rare-earth elements (Y, La, Sm, Er) and study how the doping element affects the performance of the solar cells. Solar cells with La-doped and Sm-doped glass frits show average conversion efficiencies higher than 17.5%, while solar cells with Y-doped or Er-doped frit show lower efficiencies. By analyzing the Raman spectra of the rare-earth doped glass frits, we find that the average coordination number of Te–O ([Formula: see text]) in the glass can be tuned by the rare-earth dopant. La or Sm doping leads to a moderate value of [Formula: see text], which is believed to achieve a glass formation ability that optimizes the structure of the Ag–Si interface of the cell for the best performance.