NOVELTY - Metallizing photovoltaic solar cell having front side (10) and backside (20) to deposit layer of metal on it involves contacting the cell with light induced plating composition containing source of soluble silver ions, and agent that solubilizes aluminum metal ions dissolved from metal layer on back side; and illuminating the cell with radiant energy from light source, where metal ions from light induced plating solution are plated onto metallic pattern on front side of solar cell, where the solar cell is not electrically connected to an external power source during plating.    USE - For metallizing photovoltaic solar cell to deposit layer of metal on it (claimed).    ADVANTAGE - The method is capable of faster plating rates realized by electroplating without resulting in breakage of the silicon solar cells from the attachment of an electrical connection and also minimizes the noted deficiencies of electroless silver plating. The metal ions are plated without requiring an external electrical contact.    DETAILED DESCRIPTION - Metallizing a photovoltaic solar cell to deposit a layer of metal on it, where the photovoltaic solar cell has front side (10) and backside (20), where the back side contains a layer of metal selected from aluminum and aluminum alloys and the front side contains pattern containing metal on it involves contacting the photovoltaic solar cell with a light induced plating composition containing source of soluble silver ions, and an agent that solubilizes aluminum metal ions dissolved from the layer of metal on the back side; and illuminating the photovoltaic solar cell with radiant energy from a light source, where metal ions from the light induced plating solution are plated onto the metallic pattern on the front side of the solar cell, where the solar cell is not electrically connected to an external power source during the plating, and ions of the metal layer on the back side are dissolved into the light induced plating composition. The light induced plating composition comprises a complexing agent for the silver ions. The pattern comprising metal on the front side of the solar cell comprises current collection lines and busbars printed on it, where the pattern comprising metal comprises printed silver paste. The light source is selected from halogen lamp, incandescent lamp, fluorescent lamp, light emitting diode, or mercury lamp.    DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING(S) - The figure shows a front side and a backside view of silicon solar cell.    Front side (10)    Front side metal busbar (12)    Metal line (14)    Backside (20)    Backside metal busbar (22)