Preparation of silver-coated glass frit and its application in silicon solar cells

A simple electroless plating process was employed to prepare silver-coated glass frits for solar cells. The surface of the glass frits was modified with polyvinyl-pyrrolidone（PVP） before the electroless plating process. Infrared（IR） spectroscopy,field emission scanning electron microscopy（FESEM）, and x-ray diffraction（XRD） were used to characterize the PVP modified glass frits and investigate the mechanism of the modification process. It was found that the PVP molecules adsorbed on the glass frit surface and reduced the silver ions to the silver nanoparticles. Through epitaxial growth, these nanoparticles were uniformly deposited onto the surface of the glass frit. Silicon solar cells with this novel silver coating exhibited a photoelectric conversion efficiency increase of 0.33%. Compared with the electroless plating processes, this method provides a simple route to prepare silver-coated glass frits without introducing impurity ions.

Conductive and corrosion behaviors of silver-doped carbon-coated stainless steel as PEMFC bipolar plates

Ni–Cr enrichment on stainless steel SS316 L resulting from chemical activation enabled the deposition of carbon by spraying a stable suspension of carbon nanoparticles; trace Ag was deposited in situ to prepare a thin continuous Ag-doped carbon film on a porous carbon-coated SS316 L substrate. The corrosion resistance of this film in 0.5 mol·L^（-1） H_2SO_4 solution containing 5 ppm F- at 80°C was investigated using polarization tests. The results showed that the surface treatment of the SS316 L strongly affected the adhesion of the carbon coating to the stainless steel. Compared to the bare SS316 L, the Ag-doped carbon-coated SS316 L bipolar plate was remarkably more stable in both the anode and cathode environments of proton exchange membrane fuel cell（PEMFC） and the interface contact resistance between the specimen and Toray 060 carbon paper was reduced from 333.0 m？·cm^2 to 21.6 m？·cm^2 at a compaction pressure of 1.2 MPa.

Preparation and microwave absorption properties of flexible composites containing Ag decorated polystyrene powders

Polystyrene(PS)microspheres have the advantages of good stability,corrosion resistance and low density,which have a broad application prospect.In this paper,PS composite microspheres with 20%silver plating content were prepared by chemical plating method and incorporated into polydimethylsiloxane(PDMS)flexible matrix to prepare Ag@PS/PDMS flexible wave-absorbing materials.The electromagnetic parameters were adjusted to optimize the dielectric and wave-absorbing properties by varying the additional amount of Ag@PS composite microspheres in Ag@PS/PDMS composites.The X-ray diffraction(XRD)results proved the successful preparation of Ag@PS composite microspheres.The SEM and EDS images indicated that the Ag particles were attached to the external surface of PS.The presence of Ag particles in the Ag@PS composite microspheres enhances their electrical conductivity and enables the formation of a conductive network.This,in turn,improves the composites’dielectric constant.The optimal wave-absorbing capability of the composites was achieved when the Ag@PS composite microspheres were added at a weight percentage of 50%.When the sample attains a thickness of 1.8 mm,a reflection loss of at least-39.8 dB is attained at 10.4 GHz,along with a bandwidth of 1.6 GHz(9.1–10.7 GHz)for the effective absorption bandwidth(EAB).The pressure-sensitive properties of the pliable composites were investigated as well.The optimal pressure-sensitive performance of Ag@PS/PDMS composites was achieved with a 60 wt.% addition of Ag@PS composite microspheres.The resistance undergoes significant changes when subjected to pressure with a sensitivity of 9.7.The results indicate that the flexible composites’wave-absorption and pressuresensitivity properties can be modulated by adjusting the amount of Ag@PS composite microspheres added.