Factors Affecting the Morphology of Pb-Based Glass Frit Coated with Ag Material Prepared by Electroless Silver Plating

Pb-based glass frit coated with nanosilver material for Si solar cell applications has been directly prepared by electroless silver plating. Activation of the glass frit was accomplished by using glycol, with the aim of reducing the silver ions to elemental silver on the surface of the glass frit. Electroless silver plating onto the glass frit was successfully realized using two kinds of electroless plating bath. However, the morphology of the composite powder greatly affected the modality, sheet resistance, series resistance, and photoelectric conversion efficiency of the conducting silver films. We found that the activation temperature affected the number and distribution of silver nanoparticles. Meanwhile, the average grain size of the silver particles and the silver content in the Pb-based glass frit coated with Ag material could be controlled by adjusting the pH value and loading capacity, respectively, during plating.