# US 2026/0096243 A1 · Preparation method of electrode grid lines, and photovoltaic (pv) cell

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- Number: US 2026/0096243 A1
- Document ID: US20260096243A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 19/204,729
- Filed: 2025-05-12
- Published: 2026-04-02
- Earliest claimed: 2024-09-29
- Assignees: Beijing Zenithnano Technology Co., Ltd.
- Applicants: Beijing Zenithnano Technology Co., Ltd.
- Inventors: Kaiqi PAN; Zhicong Li; Guanghang Yang; Jingjing Shu; Shudong Zhong
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20260096243A1

## CPC

- H10F 77/211: {for photovoltaic cells}
- H10F 77/215: {Geometries of grid contacts}
- H01B 13/00: Apparatus or processes specially adapted for manufacturing conductors or cables
- H05K 3/12: using {thick film techniques, e.g.} printing techniques to apply the conductive material {or similar techniques for applying conductive paste or ink patterns}
- H10F 71/00: Manufacture or treatment of devices covered by this subclass (patterning processes to connect thin photovoltaic cells in integrated devices, or assemblies of multiple devices, having photovoltaic cells H10F19/33; manufacture or treatment of encapsulations or containers for integrated devices, or assemblies of multiple devices, having photovoltaic cells H10F19/80; manufacture or treatment of integrated devices, or assemblies of multiple devices, comprising at least one element in which radiation controls the flow of current H10F39/00)
- H10F: INORGANIC SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES SENSITIVE TO INFRARED RADIATION, LIGHT, ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION OF SHORTER WAVELENGTH OR CORPUSCULAR RADIATION
- H01B: CABLES; CONDUCTORS; INSULATORS; SELECTION OF MATERIALS FOR THEIR CONDUCTIVE, INSULATING OR DIELECTRIC PROPERTIES (selection for magnetic properties H01F1/00; waveguides H01P {; printed circuits H05K})
- H05K: PRINTED CIRCUITS; CASINGS OR CONSTRUCTIONAL DETAILS OF ELECTRIC APPARATUS; MANUFACTURE OF ASSEMBLAGES OF ELECTRICAL COMPONENTS

## Abstract

The provided is a preparation method of electrode grid lines, and a photovoltaic (PV) cell. The preparation method of electrode grid lines includes the following steps: S1: providing a polymer layer as a transfer substrate; S2: applying conductive paste onto a formed side of the polymer layer to at least completely fill a trench in the formed side, and removing excess conductive paste from a surface of the polymer layer; S3: providing a base material, aligning and bonding the side of the polymer layer applied with the conductive paste to the base material, and transferring the conductive paste onto the base material through a transfer method with a preset process parameter; S4: removing the polymer layer; and S5: sintering the conductive paste onto the base material, and forming electrode grid lines with a preset aspect ratio.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A preparation method of electrode grid lines, comprising the following steps:
S1: providing a polymer layer as a transfer substrate;
S2: applying conductive paste onto a formed side of the polymer layer to at least completely fill a trench in the formed side, and removing excess conductive paste from a surface of the polymer layer, ensuring that a surface of the trench and a surface of the conductive paste are coplanar;
S3: providing a base material, aligning and bonding the formed side of the polymer layer applied with the conductive paste to the base material, and transferring the conductive paste onto the base material through a transfer method with a preset process parameter, wherein the process parameter for transferring comprises a pressure of 1-20 MPa, a temperature of 80-180° C., and a duration of 0.5-10 min;
S4: removing the polymer layer to retain the conductive paste on the base material; and
S5: sintering the conductive paste onto the base material, and forming electrode grid lines with a preset aspect ratio.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The preparation method of the electrode grid lines according to claim 1, wherein the step S1: providing the polymer layer as a transfer substrate comprises the following steps:
S101: providing a preset mold complementary in terms of shape to an electrode pattern to be embossed; and
S102: preparing a desired polymer layer on the mold according to a preset process parameter to serve as the transfer substrate.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The preparation method of the electrode grid lines according to claim 2, wherein the step S102: preparing the desired polymer layer on the mold according to the preset process parameter to serve as the transfer substrate comprises:
preparing a 15-85 μm thick polymer layer with a trench on the mold, drying the polymer layer at 100-125° C., demolding from a side of the mold, and obtaining a desired polymer layer with a micron- or nano-scale electrode pattern as the transfer substrate.

### Claim 4 (depends on 2)

The preparation method of the electrode grid lines according to claim 2, wherein in the step S102, the polymer layer has a thickness of 15-50 μm.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The preparation method of the electrode grid lines according to claim 1, wherein the step S1: providing the polymer layer as the transfer substrate further comprises the following steps:
S111: providing a polymer layer; and
S112: forming, by hot-embossing, the trench for an electrode pattern on the polymer layer through a mold.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The preparation method of the electrode grid lines according to claim 1, wherein the step S1 comprises: preparing the polymer layer by an electrospinning method or a flatbed coating method.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The preparation method of the electrode grid lines according to claim 1, wherein the step S1 comprises: preparing the polymer layer by an electrospinning method as follows:
S11: dissolving a water-soluble polymer material in a preset solvent to prepare a uniform spinning solution;
S12: loading the spinning solution into a syringe, and spinning through an electrospinning device; and
S13: allowing, during spinning, a fiber to form a film on a preset device, collecting and post-treating the film, and obtaining a desired polymer layer.

### Claim 8 (depends on 7)

The preparation method of the electrode grid lines according to claim 7, wherein the step S11: dissolving the water-soluble polymer material in the preset solvent to prepare the uniform spinning solution comprises:
dissolving polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) and tetrabutyl titanate in a mixed solvent of ethanol and acetic acid, and preparing a precursor solution comprising 3-5 wt % PVP and 18-22 wt % tetrabutyl titanate.

### Claim 9 (depends on 7)

The preparation method of the electrode grid lines according to claim 7, wherein the step S11: dissolving the water-soluble polymer material in the preset solvent to prepare the uniform spinning solution comprises:
slowly adding PVP and diphenylalanine into a mixed solvent of methanol and N,N-methylacetamide under stirring, continuously stirring until the PVP and diphenylalanine are fully dissolved, and obtaining a transparent polymer solution.

### Claim 10 (depends on 7)

The preparation method of the electrode grid lines according to claim 7, wherein the step S12: loading the spinning solution into the syringe, and spinning through the electrospinning device comprises:
loading the prepared spinning solution into the syringe with a preset inner diameter, and performing electrospinning with a preset working voltage.

### Claim 11 (depends on 7)

The preparation method of the electrode grid lines according to claim 7, wherein the step S13: allowing, during spinning, the fiber to form the film on the preset device, collecting and post-treating the film, and obtaining the desired polymer layer comprises:
allowing a polymer layer formed by spinning to deposit uniformly on a collection device, and performing a corresponding pretreatment step based on an intended use of a fiber film.

### Claim 12 (depends on 5)

The preparation method of the electrode grid lines according to claim 5, wherein the step S111: providing the polymer layer comprises:
preparing a polymer layer with a thickness of 35-85 μm through an electrospinning method or a flatbed coating method.

### Claim 13 (depends on 5)

The preparation method of the electrode grid lines according to claim 5, wherein the step S112: forming, by hot-embossing, the trench for the electrode pattern on the polymer layer through the mold comprises:
placing the prepared polymer layer on the mold, and hot-embossing, by a precision hot-embossing machine, the polymer layer at 100-180° C., wherein a micron- or nano-scale trench structure is formed on a surface of the polymer layer.

### Claim 14 (depends on 2)

The preparation method of the electrode grid lines according to claim 2, wherein the mold comprises one of a monocrystalline silicon base material, a polycrystalline silicon base material, a copper base material, a nickel base material, a copper-nickel alloy base material, a nickel-iron alloy base material, an iron-aluminum alloy base material, or an aluminum alloy base material.

### Claim 15 (depends on 2)

The preparation method of the electrode grid lines according to claim 2, wherein a protrusion of the mold is complementary to the trench in shape; and
the mold is in the shape of one of an isosceles triangle, an isosceles trapezoid, an ellipse, a hexagon, a right-angle trapezoid, or a rectangle.

### Claim 16 (depends on 2)

The preparation method of the electrode grid lines according to claim 2, wherein a shape of the mold features an aspect ratio of 1 to 3.

### Claim 17 (depends on 2)

The preparation method of the electrode grid lines according to claim 2, wherein a surface of the mold is coated with a self-assembled monolayer (SAM).

### Claim 18 (depends on 17)

The preparation method of the electrode grid lines according to claim 17, wherein the SAM comprises one of a silane compound, a siloxane compound, or a perfluorinated compound.

### Claim 19 (depends on 1)

The preparation method of the electrode grid lines according to claim 1, wherein the step S2: applying the conductive paste onto the formed side of the polymer layer to at least completely fill the trench in the formed side, and removing the excess conductive paste from the surface of the polymer layer, ensuring that the surface of the trench and the surface of the conductive paste are coplanar comprises:
uniformly spreading, by a flatbed coating method, the conductive paste over the formed polymer layer, wherein the conductive paste completely fills the trench; and scraping off excess conductive paste to ensure complete filling and uniform and deformation-free distribution of the conductive paste.

### Claim 20 (depends on 1)

The preparation method of the electrode grid lines according to claim 1, wherein in the step S3, the step of providing the base material, and aligning and bonding the formed side of the polymer layer applied with the conductive paste to the base material comprises:
tightly bonding, while drying the conductive paste, the conductive paste to a surface of the base material by applying uniform-codirectional pressure at a preset temperature; and remaining, within the temperature and the pressure, a macroscopic morphology of the conductive paste transferred onto the base material unchanged;
wherein the base material is selected from one of a crystalline silicon wafer base material, a glass base material, a perovskite base material, a metal base material, or a polymer base material.

### Claim 21 (depends on 1)

The preparation method of the electrode grid lines according to claim 1, wherein the step S4: removing the polymer layer to retain the conductive paste on the base material comprises:
immersing a silicon wafer after transferring into a 25-75° C. aqueous solution, wherein the polymer layer is dissolved and separated, leaving a successfully transferred conductive paste pattern, and forming a basic structure of a photovoltaic (PV) electrode grid line.

### Claim 22 (depends on 1)

The preparation method of the electrode grid lines according to claim 1, wherein the step S5: sintering the conductive paste onto the base material, and forming the electrode grid lines with the preset aspect ratio comprises:
placing a silicon wafer with the transferred conductive paste in a high-temperature furnace; sintering the conductive paste at 200-800° C., ensuring that the conductive paste is completely sintered and tightly bonded to the silicon wafer; and forming the electrode grid lines with a preset aspect ratio.

### Claim 23 (depends on 1)

The preparation method of the electrode grid lines according to claim 1, wherein the conductive paste is selected from one of silver paste, aluminum paste, copper paste, chromium paste, tin paste, indium paste, nickel paste, titanium paste, or tantalum paste; the silver paste further comprises of pure silver particles, copper or nickel particles coated with silver.

### Claim 24 (depends on 1)

The preparation method of the electrode grid lines according to claim 1, wherein the polymer layer has a glass transition temperature of 60-120° C., and is made of a water-soluble polymer material.

### Claim 25 (depends on 24)

The preparation method of the electrode grid lines according to claim 24, wherein the water-soluble polymer material comprises one of PVP, polyethylene glycol (PEG), polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), sodium polyacrylate (PAAS), polyvinyl alcohol-polyacrylic acid (PVA-PAA), or polyvinyl alcohol-polyacrylonitrile (PVA-PAN); and
the PVA has an average polymerization degree of 1,700 and an alcoholysis degree of 88-92%; the PVA comprises ordinary PVA and modified PVA; and the modified PVA is carboxyl-modified PVA with a carboxyl modification degree of 2-8%.

### Claim 26 (depends on 2)

The preparation method of the electrode grid lines according to claim 2, wherein the step S102 further comprises: providing a bonding layer at a side of the polymer layer away from the mold, and providing a substrate at a side of the bonding layer away from the polymer layer.

### Claim 27 (depends on 26)

The preparation method of the electrode grid lines according to claim 26, wherein the substrate is made of one of polyimide (PI), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyamide (PA), or polycarbonate (PC).

### Claim 28 (depends on 26)

The preparation method of the electrode grid lines according to claim 26, wherein the step S3 further comprises: separating, during transferring with the preset process parameter, the bonding layer and the substrate from the polymer layer.

### Claim 29 (depends on 1)

A photovoltaic (PV) cell, comprising the electrode grid lines prepared by the preparation method according to claim 1.
