| Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 77615 | Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells | 2016 | 8 Pages |
•A simple and inexpensive solution process is developed to construct Ag film.•The enhanced adhesion is owing to covalent bonds between silver and substrate.•The silver film is homogenous without any impurity.•Typical electrical and optical properties of Ag have been maintained.
A simple and inexpensive solution process has been developed to construct a silver film with enhanced adhesion by electroless plating for solar reflector applications. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) were employed to characterize the surfaces. This reinforced adhesion is due to chemical covalent bonds between silver and substrate atoms. Silver maintains its unique conductivity even as a film on the ABS surface as demonstrated by four-point probe measurement. Moreover, UV/VIS/NIR spectrometer data confirms high reflectance of the Ag films in the infrared region indicating potential application for solar coatings. The method presented a convenient, compatible, and easily scalable manufacturing process with higher efficiency, which is of significant value for industrial fabrication of silver films and could have a promising future in concentrating solar systems.
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