Encapsulant Adhesion to Surface Metallization on Photovoltaic Cells

Delamination of encapsulant materials from PV cell surfaces often appears to originate at regions with metallization. Using a fracture mechanics based metrology, the adhesion of ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) encapsulant to screen-printed silver metallization was evaluated. At room temperature, the fracture energy Gc [J/m
²
] of the EVA/silver interface (952 J/m
²
) was ~70% lower than that of the EVA/antireflective (AR) coating (>2900 J/m
²
) and ~60% lower than that of the EVA to the surface of cell (2265 J/m
²
). After only 300 h of damp heat aging, the adhesion energy of the silver interface dropped to and plateaued at ~50-60 J/m
²
while that of the EVA/AR coating and EVA/cell remained mostly unchanged. Elemental surface analysis showed that the EVA separates from the silver in a purely adhesive manner, indicating that bonds at the interface were likely displaced in the presence of humidity and chemical byproducts at elevated temperature, which in part accounts for the propensity of metalized surfaces to delaminate in the field.