The preparation of oleylamine modified micro-size sphere silver particles and its application in crystalline silicon solar cells.

In this paper, micro-sized silver particles were prepared using a simple chemical approach without adjusting the pH of the solution, and oleylamine as a capping agent was described to promote the dispersion of the silver particles. The effects of temperature, feeding time and stirring speed on the morphology and size distribution of silver particles were discussed. The optimal reaction parameters (35 °C, 45 min, 300 rpm) for large scale industrial production were selected to obtained optimal silver particles for preparation of the silver paste for poly-crystalline silicon solar cells. The photoelectric conversion efficiency of the solar cells made with silver paste by using the silver particles can reach 18.623%, which is similar to the industrial production of solar cell made with commercial silver paste. This work contributes to the development of the synthesis of highly disperse silver particles used in solar cells in large scale industrial productions.