The high price of silver motivated several companies to look for alternative materials for the front-side metallisation of solar cells. Copper is now considered as a solution to reduce solar cell prices. There is no doubting the fact that high cell efficiency can lend a considerable boost to the competitiveness of solar-generated power. But manufacturing and material costs also play a significant role for the determination of solar electricity prices. Researchers, developers and manufacturers are thus turning their attention increasingly to the points at which costly materials can be substituted with less expensive alternatives, for example the metallisation of the cell front, where copper is expected to replace the silver used to date.
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