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Purpose The photovoltaic modules with front glass as a protective layer are the most popular type in the industry, but for some applications it can be considered as too heavy. One of the approaches is to laminate the cells using PMMA [Poly(methyl methacrylate)] as the front layer. This polymer has good mechanical strength and optical properties but exhibits low adhesion to lamination foil. To increase adhesion between these two materials, PMMA surface treatment may be required. Design/methodology/approach To examine the PMMA treatment influence on the sample, adhesion samples’ surfaces were modified by grinding and laser cutting. Also two types of PMMA available in the market were tested, namely, smooth and satin types. The quality of lamination was determined using two methods, namely, tear test with recorded maximal tear force achieved for the samples, and environment chamber tests, in which the system resistance against the cyclic temperature variation was evaluated. Findings Additional treatment of the PMMA surface lead to increased adhesion of the lamination foil used. Ethylene-vinyl acetate foil in the PMMA system is sensitive to temperature variation, which can lead to system delamination, whereas polyvinyl butyral foil exhibits better environmental performance and even its adhesion to PMMA is lower. Originality/value This paper presents atypical surface modification methods that contributed to higher adhesion of lamination systems in glass-free solar modules. Glass front sheet and polymeric backsheet were replaced with PMMA. As the adhesion mechanism in the PMMA-lamination foil system differs from that in the traditional glass system, different PMMA surface treatments need to be evaluated.

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The nanoparticles of CH 3 NH 3 PbBr 3 hybrid perovskites were synthesized. These perovskite nanoparticles we embedded in polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) in order to obtain the composite, which we used as light converter for silicon solar cells. It was shown that the composite emit the light with the intensity maximum at about 527 nm when exited by a short wavelength (300÷450 nm) of light.The silicon solar cells were used to examine the effect of down-conversion (DC) process by perovskite nanoparticles embedded in PMMA. For experiments, two groups of monocrystalline silicon solar cells were used. The first one included the solar cells without surface texturization and antireflection coating. The second one included the commercial cells with surface texturization and antireflection coating. In every series of the cells one part of the cells were covered by composite (CH 3 NH 3 PbBr 3 in PMMA) layer and second part of cells by pure PMMA for comparison. It was shown that External Quantum Efficiency EQE of the photovoltaic cells covered by composite (CH 3 NH 3 PbBr 3 in PMMA) layer was improved in both group of the cells but unfortunately the Internal Quantum Efficiency was reduced. This reduction was caused by high absorption of the short wavelength light and reabsorption of the luminescence light. Therefore, the CH 3 NH 3 PbBr 3 perovskite nanoparticles embedded in PMMA matrix were unable to increase silicon solar cell efficiency in the tested systems.

Potential impact of copper replacing silver in the paste used for the front electrode fabrication in crystalline silicon solar cells was investigated. The copper was applied as a new CuXX component with about 2 wt.% to 6 wt.% share of XX modifier. The generated CuXX molecules were analyzed using transmission microscopy. Based on the commercial Du Pont PV19B paste, CuXX and XX materials, the new PV19B/CuXX paste with 51 wt.% share of Cu and the PV19B/XX paste with 51 wt.% share of XX only were developed. Comparative studies of the effect of the commercial PV19B paste made by DuPont Company, and the pastes with the CuXX component and with the modifier XX alone on the electrical parameters of solar cells produced on crystalline silicon were carried out. The solar cells were characterized by the current-voltage technique. As a final result, the Cz-Si solar cell with the 51 wt.% share of Cu in the front electrode having a series resistance of 0.551 Ω·cm 2 , an efficiency of 14.08 % and, what is more important, the fill factor of 0.716, was obtained. It is the best result ever obtained concerning direct Cu application for solar cells fabricated in thick-film technology.

The front glass cover is the crucial part of commercially available silicon solar modules as it provides mechanical protection and environmental isolation. However, from a utility point of view the most important thing is how the glass cover influences the power generation of a photovoltaic (PV) module. Optical matching of the whole structure determines the number of photons absorbed by the solar cells and hence the produced photocurrent. In this study five types of PV glass were optically measured and characterized to find out useful information on transmittance and its character. Then, the results were compared with the electrical parameters of solar mini-modules employing each type of glass. Additionally, the work aimed to providing a low-cost measuring procedure to determine the influence of front glass on photovoltaic performance in small, laboratory scale preserving the Standard Test Conditions. An important aspect was an analysis of different types of glass texture. To confirm properness and adequacy of the analysis, the uncertainty aspect was discussed as well.

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