Mass production of diamond-wire-sawn (DWS) multicrystalline silicon (mc-Si) solar cells reached a significant point of maturity through utilization of metal-catalyzed chemical etching (MCCE). However, nanotextured DWS mc-Si solar cells usually produced with Ag-MCCE still suffer from certain drawbacks, such as remaining saw marks, color differences among grains, and slight decreases in the open-circuit voltage (Voc). In this work, we show that unoriented Cu-based MCCE (Cu-MCCE) not only depresses the saw marks and color differences but also introduces random shallow pits, which act as artificial defects that can be easily converted into a submicron texture using conventional HNO3/HF etching. Moreover, we demonstrate that the efficiency of DWS mc-Si solar cells produced with the Cu-MCCE process is greater than 19%, with improved Voc resulting from better surface passivation. This cost-effective Cu-MCCE method is, therefore, of significant potential for the photovoltaic industry.
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