For HJT to achieve widespread adoption, how can it overcome this “silver” hurdle?

2026-02-09 13:24

Lately, I’ve been having drinks with a few guys who work on HJT. After three rounds, the conversation inevitably came back to the same old topic: “There’s no denying the efficiency—it’s just that silver paste is way too expensive.”

This has long been a thorn in the side of virtually every HJT player. For a single solar cell, nearly one-third of the cost is tied up in conductive silver paste. Without addressing this issue, scaling up remains nothing more than empty talk.

After several years of tinkering in the industry and trying out numerous approaches, it now seems that the most promising—and also the most practical—path is… “Silver-wrapped-copper” 。

1. Copper-clad silver—sounds simple, but there’s a lot more to it than meets the eye.

To the uninitiated, it sounds like simply mixing silver powder with copper powder. But if you really did that, you’d be in big trouble.

The real silver‑plated copper is in Each micron-sized particle On the surface of the copper powder, a complete layer of nano-silver is “plated.” You can think of it as a “copper‑core chocolate”—with a silky, conductive silver coating on the outside and a robust, cost‑effective copper core inside.

The benefit of doing this directly addresses the pain points:

● The silver layer on the outside , ensuring smooth current flow and achieving a contact resistance as low as that of pure silver paste.

● The copper piece inside By genuinely reducing the amount of precious metals used, costs can be slashed significantly.

The challenge lies in the fact that this “silver coating” must be made… Thin, even, and durable Thinness is achieved to save on silver; uniformity and robustness ensure stable conductivity and resistance to oxidation. In this process, even the slightest deviation in control can lead to a drastic drop in performance.

2. Our approach: No “stir-frying”—we start with “growing the vegetables” first.

Many manufacturers on the market adopt a “buy powder + formulate” model. It’s like being a chef: the ingredients (powders) are sourced from the market, while the real skill lies in the seasoning—i.e., the formulation.

At Betely, we take a different approach. We believe that the ingredients themselves are what truly matter. That’s why we choose to grow our own vegetables. — Starting from the synthesis of conductive powders, I do it all myself.

Look, this is the vegetables we “grew.”

We conduct our own research to achieve a more uniform silver coating, perform surface treatments to prevent oxidation, and carefully control the particle size and morphology of the powder. Of course, this approach is more labor-intensive, but the benefits are clear: With powder in hand, you’ll never panic.

When a customer comes to us and asks, “I’m under significant cost pressure—could we push the silver content even lower?”

For most companies that “buy powder and formulate,” this is far from a simple recipe tweak. They may first spend weeks scouring the globe to source—or even custom‑manufacture—powders that meet the new specifications. Meanwhile, their customers’ production lines are waiting, while cost‑reduction pressures mount daily. And by the time the powders finally arrive, the lengthy process of formula optimization and process adaptation has only just begun.

But we are different.

Because we “have the powder in hand”—from the very beginning, we maintain full control over powder synthesis, coating, and modification. When a customer presents a new requirement, we immediately begin making simultaneous adjustments in the lab, starting from the most fundamental aspects of powder structure and formulation. This means that from the moment we receive the request to delivering an initial, viable sample prototype, We usually only need “three to five days.”

Three days versus three weeks—this is the speed gap enabled by “integrated slurry‑and‑powder processing.” It addresses not only technical challenges but also the mounting pressures of “time costs” and “opportunity costs” that customers face.

We believe that speed is not the only benchmark; however, delivering faster responses than others—while maintaining reliability—is in itself a powerful competitive advantage.

3. Cost reduction must not come at the expense of quality or by cutting corners.

We have launched a range of products with varying silver contents—such as the SF-3000A-AC, SF-3000C-F, SF-3000C-B, and SF-3000C-G10—not simply to fill out our product catalog.

It is because we understand, There is no “best” slurry—only the “most suitable.” Some customers’ production lines demand high precision, allowing them to handle formulations with lower silver content; others have extremely stringent requirements for solder‑joint tensile strength, necessitating a higher silver content to ensure reliability.

Our role is not to hand you a one-size-fits-all solution, but to sit down with you and, based on your current production processes and cost targets, Let’s work together to create the solution that’s best suited for you. 。

The battle to reduce costs in HJT technology has entered its next phase. Silver‑coated copper, once a “backup option,” is rapidly becoming the “mainstream choice.” This shift isn’t driven by novelty; rather, it represents the most robust balance currently achievable between performance and cost.

At Betely, we focus on one thing: leveraging our core materials expertise to help you navigate this tightrope with confidence and success.

Next episode preview: Silver coins and copper coins—three concerns that worry customers the most.

Silver-plated copper—how do we address the three concerns that customers worry about most?

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