Capillary flow of amorphous metal for high performance electrode

Abstract

Metallic glass (MG) assists electrical contact of screen-printed silver electrodes and leads to comparable electrode performance to that of electroplated electrodes. For high electrode performance, MG needs to be infiltrated into nanometer-scale cavities between Ag particles and reacts with them. Here, we show that the MG in the supercooled state can fill the gap between Ag particles within a remarkably short time due to capillary effect. The flow behavior of the MG is revealed by computational fluid dynamics and density funtional theory simulation. Also, we suggest the formation mechanism of the Ag electrodes, and demonstrate the criteria of MG for higher electrode performance. Consequently, when Al85Ni5Y8Co2 MG is added in the Ag electrodes, cell efficiency is enhanced up to 20.30% which is the highest efficiency reported so far for screen-printed interdigitated back contact solar cells. These results show the possibility for the replacement of electroplating process to screen-printing process.

Excessively High Vapor Pressure of Al-based Amorphous Alloys

“…For example, some amorphous alloys can be blow-molded into various shapes due to their thermoplastic formability in SCLR [3,4]. In addition, we previously exploited the liquid-like behavior of Al-based amorphous alloys in SCLR to develop Ag paste for solar cells [5][6][7]. The Ag paste with Al85Y8Ni5Co2 (AYNC) exhibited better electrical properties than those with Al85.4Y10Ni5.5 (AYN) and Al86Y6Ni4.5Co2La1.5 (AYNCL).…”

Enhancement Mechanism of Cerium in 316LN Austenitic Stainless Steel During Creep at 700 °C

“…Yttrium in HP heatresistant steels increased the fragmentation of primary carbides obstructing the continued growth of creep cracks [16,17]. Cerium in 27Cr-7Ni duplex steel retards the precipitation of sigma phase during annealing at the temperature of 600-1000 °C after solid-solution heat treatment, which inhibited the degradation of mechanical properties [18]. As a result, it is considered to be feasible to improve the creep properties of 316LN steel by RE addition.…”

High thermal stability of the amorphous oxide in Ti44.5Cu44.5Zr7Be4 metallic glass

“…[11][12][13] Based on such exotic properties, it has been reported that metallic glasses can be used as functional materials for binding 14 and nano/micro imprinting. 15 As a result, metallic glasses have been successfully applied for electrode for solar cell 16 and catalyst for fuel cell. 10,[17][18][19] One of the prerequisites for such applications is that metallic glasses should have a wider SCL region, which can provide a larger processing window for fabrication.…”