Current Application Status and Prospects of Silver in the PV Industry [SMM Silver Conference]

On May 16, at the 2025 SMM (6th) Silver Industry Chain Innovation Conference, hosted by SMM Information & Technology Co., Ltd. (SMM), co-organized by Ningbo Haoshun Precious Metals Co., Ltd. and Quanda New Materials (Ningbo) Co., Ltd., and strongly supported by sponsor organizations including Fujian Zijin Precious Metals Materials Co., Ltd., Huizhou Yian Precious Metals Co., Ltd., Jiangsu Jiangshan Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Zhengzhou Jinquan Mining and Metallurgy Equipment Co., Ltd., Hunan Shengyin New Materials Co., Ltd., Zhejiang Weida Precious Metals Powder Materials Co., Ltd., Guangxi Zhongma Zhonglianjin Cross-border E-commerce Co., Ltd., Suzhou Xinghan New Materials Technology Co., Ltd., Yongxing Zhongsheng Environmental Protection Technology Co., Ltd., IKOI S.p.A, Hunan Zhengming Environmental Protection Co., Ltd., Kunshan Hongfutai Environmental Protection Technology Co., Ltd., and Shandong Humon Smelting Co., Ltd., Ding Gangqiang, Deputy Chief Engineer and Researcher at CSSC Huanggang Precious Metals Co., Ltd., discussed the topic of "Current Status and Prospects of Silver Applications in the Photovoltaic Industry."

1. Background Overview

► Photovoltaic Industry Chain:

► Applications of Silver in the Photovoltaic Industry:

► Structural Diagram of Solar Cells:

In addition, he shared the technology roadmap for crystalline silicon solar cells.

2. Analysis of the Current Status of Silver Applications in the Photovoltaic Industry

► Current Status Analysis

• Silver Nitrate: Silver nitrate is an important product of deep processing of silver and serves as a raw material for many other deep-processed products. It is mainly used in fields such as photovoltaics, electronics, petrochemicals, mirror manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, and photography.

• PV Silver Powder: The requirements for PV silver powder include high sphericity, high dispersibility, narrow particle size distribution, high tap density, and surface roughness, which enable the paste products to achieve good photoelectric conversion efficiency and stable electrical performance.

• PV Silver Paste:

PV Silver Powder: The size of silver powder particles affects the contact resistance and open-circuit voltage, as well as the resistivity of the silver grid lines.

Glass Frit: Glass frit serves to etch the silicon nitride layer. The type of glass frit affects the performance of the front-side silver paste, thereby influencing the photoelectric conversion efficiency of solar cells.

Organic Vehicle: The organic vehicle acts as a carrier for the ultrafine silver powder and glass frit, providing a dispersing effect, which in turn affects the processability of screen printing.

• Silver Paste Consumption in Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells: With advancements in various electrode and printing manufacturing technologies, the silver consumption per unit for mainstream cell types such as PERC, TOPCon, and HJT has been decreasing year by year.

• Laser-Enhanced Contact Optimization (LECO) decouples passivation damage and ohmic contact, enhancing cell metallization. The core principle of laser-assisted sintering technology lies in leveraging the high energy concentration and controllability of lasers to separate the two steps of passivation layer erosion and ohmic contact formation during the high-temperature sintering process, thereby achieving efficient and precise control over the sintering process.

• Silver-coated copper paste: PV companies are actively exploring electrode technologies that utilize base metals such as copper to replace silver, primarily divided into silver-coated copper paste combined with screen-printing technology and copper electroplating technology.

The silver-coated copper powder technology reduces silver usage by coating silver onto the surface of copper powder. By adjusting the ratio of silver to copper, it ensures conversion efficiency while lowering the cost of silver paste. Silver-coated copper powder: Contains 15% silver.

• Silver recovery from PV modules: According to forecasts by the Zero Carbon Research Institute, by 2030, the cumulative amount of discarded PV modules in China is expected to reach around 18GW, approximately 1.5 million mt, with an output value of about 6.1 billion yuan. By 2050, the cumulative amount of discarded PV modules is projected to reach 253GW, approximately 20 million mt, with an output value of 90 billion yuan.

• Circular economy of PV modules

3. Analysis of the current market situation and development prospects of silver in the PV industry

► Market Analysis

• Global and Chinese new PV installations

The global market demand for PV power generation is expected to improve, with major countries such as the US, Europe, and India experiencing stable growth in demand for PV power generation. Emerging countries in the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America are anticipated to see steady growth in demand for PV modules due to declining levelized costs of electricity (LCOE) from PV, urgent power shortages, and strong government support for renewable energy transitions, driving global demand growth.

• Demand for PV silver paste and PV silver powder:

The market size for PV silver paste is expected to continue growing in the coming years. In 2024, the demand for PV silver powder is estimated to be around 7,217 mt, with a corresponding market size exceeding 40 billion yuan.

• Production statistics of silver nitrate in China

Statistics show that the production of silver nitrate in China has been increasing year by year, with an annual growth rate exceeding 20%.

Major domestic silver nitrate producers: CSSC Huanggang Precious Metals Co., Ltd., Tongbai Hongxin New Materials Co., Ltd., Lanzhou Jinchuan Science and Technology Industrial Park Co., Ltd., Xilong Scientific Co., Ltd., Zhejiang Hongda New Materials Development Co., Ltd., etc.

• Production statistics of silver nitrate in China from 2022 to 2024

It introduces the monthly production statistics of SMM silver nitrate in China from 2022 to 2024.

• Proportion of silver demand in China by sector

It elaborates on the breakdown of silver applications in the industrial sector and the distribution of China's silver consumption structure in 2024.

• Production of major silver nitrate producers in China

It introduces the production proportion of major silver nitrate producers in China.

It also elaborated on other major domestic silver nitrate enterprises, including Quanda New Materials (Ningbo) Co., Ltd., Guangdong Vital New Materials Co., Ltd., Fujian Fuxuan Technology Co., Ltd., Hunan CNGR New Silver Materials Technology Co., Ltd., and Changzhou Guoyu Environmental Protection Technology Co., Ltd.

Finally, it introduced the development history and main industries of CSSC Huanggang Precious Metals Co., Ltd.

》Click to view the special report on the 2025 SMM (6th) Silver Industry Chain Innovation Conference