Construing the interaction between solar cell surface and fatty amine for the room temperature passivation

[Display omitted] •Room temperature surface passivation of multi crystalline silicon solar cells is possible using the organic material Oleylamine.•n-type Silicon wafer does not show increment in minority carrier lifetime after Oleylamine coating. However, in case of the n-type emitter solar cell minority carrier lifetime increases.•Both, the chemical and charge induced field effect passivation lead to effective passivation of n-emitter of shallow junction silicon solar cell. Surface of n-type emitter solar cell is subjected to Oleylamine coating using standard chemical methods. The solar cell shows an increment by 16.8% in the efficiency slowly degrading in time. Investigations are carried out to isolate the passivating effect as well as degrading reactions. The degradation manifests in the form of increased reflectivity of the surface. It is expected that appropriate choice of the coatings can lead to efficient passivation of solar cell with low heat budget over extended time periods suitable for commercial applications. Our study provides a basis for processing the Si-solar cells for room temperature passivation.