The growing demand for miniaturized, lightweight, and sustainable electronic devices has intensified the need for advanced bonding materials. Existing electrically conductive adhesives (ECAs) often rely on high silver (Ag) content, resulting in elevated costs and environmental concerns. This study successfully developed a novel ECA with significantly reduced Ag content without compromising essential electrical conductivity and adhesion performance. Experimental results revealed that the optimized ECA demonstrates electrical conductivity comparable to that of commercial products, with notable advantages in cost reduction and eco-friendliness. These advancements position the developed ECA as a promising solution for next-generation electronic manufacturing, contributing to low-carbon technologies and sustainable practices. Future applications could further broaden its use across diverse electronic systems, driving progress in environmentally conscious technologies.
Interest and investment in renewable energy have increased worldwide, highlighting the need for renewable energy. Solar energy was the most promising energy of all renewable energy sources, and it has the highest investment value. Because photovoltaics require a certain amount of area for installation, high density and high output performance are required. Shingled module is a promising technology in that they are featured by higher density and higher output compared to the conventional modules. Shingled technology uses a laser scribing to divide solar cells that are to be bonded with electrically conductive adhesive (ECA) to produce and connect strings, which has a higher output in the same area than the conventional modules. In the process of producing solar modules, metal ribbons are used to interconnect cells, but they are also needed for string connections in shingled solar cells. Accordingly, in this study, we researched the interconnection that best suits the connector that joins the string to the string. The module outputs produced under the conditions of the string interconnection were compared and analyzed.
Recently, with the increase in the use of urban solar power, solar modules are required to produce high power in limited areas. In this report, we proposed the fabrication of a high-power photovoltaic module using shingles technology, and developed accurate string characteristic simulations based on circuit modeling. By comparing the resistance components between the interconnected cells and the cell strips, the ECA resistance was determined to be 0.003 Ω. Based on the equivalent circuit of the modeled shingled string, string simulation was performed according to the type of cell strip. As a result, it was determined that the cell efficiency of the 4-cell strip was the highest at 19.66%, but the efficiency of the string simulated with the 6-cell strip was the highest at 20.48% in the string unit.
In this work, we conducted a study on cell strings of high efficiency and high power solar cell modules via simulation. In contrast to the conventional module manufacturing method, the simulation was performed by connecting cutting cells divided into four parts from 6-in size using the electrically conductive adhesive (ECA). The resistance of the ECA added in series connection was extracted using an experimental method. This resistance was found to be 3 mΩ. Based on this simulation, we verified the change in efficiency of the string as a function of the number of cutting cell connections. Consequently, the cutting cell efficiency of the first 20.08% was significantly increased to 20.63% until the fifth connection; however, for further connections, it was confirmed that the efficiency was saturated to 20.8%. Connecting cutting cells using ECA improves the efficiency of the string; therefore, it is expected that it will be possible to fabricate modules with high efficiency and high power.