A porous silicon layer was prepared by electrochemical etching and a zinc oxide film was deposited on a porous silicon layer using a radio frequency sputtering system. The surface morphology of the porous silicon and zinc oxide/porous silicon layers was characterized using scanning electron microscopy. Nano-pores were produced in the porous silicon layer with an average diameter of 5.8 nm, which increased the porosity to 83%. The photoluminescence emission spectra of the zinc oxide/porous silicon layers present three emission peaks, two peaks located at 385 and 603 nm due to the zinc oxide nanocrystalline film and a third located at 638 nm due to nanocrystalline porous silicon. Optical reflectance for all the layers was obtained using an optical reflectometer. The lowest effective reflectance was obtained for the zinc oxide/porous silicon layers. The fabrication of crystalline silicon solar cells based on the zinc oxide/porous silicon anti-reflection coating layers was performed. The I-V characteristics of the solar cells were studied. The zinc oxide/porous silicon layers were found to be an excellent anti-reflection coating and to exhibit exceptional light-trapping at wavelengths ranging from 400 to 1000 nm, which led to a high efficiency of the crystalline silicon solar cell of 15.49 % compared to 12.35% efficiency for the crystalline silicon solar cell with a porous silicon anti-reflection coating layer. The zinc oxide/porous silicon anti-reflection coating layers enhance and increase the efficiency of the crystalline silicon solar cell.

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