Reducing potential induced degradation of silicon solar cells by using a liquid oxidation technique

Abstract An ultrathin layer of SiO x formed on the surface of a silicon solar cell can significantly reduce the potential induced degradation effect in solar cell modules. In this work, a liquid oxidation (LO) technique was developed to oxidize silicon surfaces by using a Ti/IrO 2 –CoO 2 anode that can produce a large amount of hydroxyl radicals ( • OH) and other species. Our results indicate that the LO SiO x (2.5 nm) layer is very dense, thus the modules made from LO treated cells are better able to mitigate potential induced degradation than modules made from ozone oxidized cells.