A method for fabricating an upright photovoltaic cell comprises growing one or more epitaxial layers on a substrate, thereby forming a diffused active junction on the substrate and one more additional active junctions above the diffused active junction. The method further comprises selectively etching an areal region of the one or more epitaxial layers, thereby forming a mesa on the substrate and exposing a substrate-contact region parallel to the areal region at a base of the mesa. The method further comprises depositing contact material onto the substrate-contact region, to form the first contact, and concertedly onto a mesa-contact region of the mesa, to form the second contact.

A method for fabricating an upright photovoltaic cell comprises growing one or more epitaxial layers on a substrate, thereby forming a diffused active junction on the substrate and one more additional active junctions above the diffused active junction. The method further comprises selectively etching an areal region of the one or more epitaxial layers, thereby forming a mesa on the substrate and exposing a substrate-contact region parallel to the areal region at a base of the mesa. The method further comprises depositing contact material onto the substrate-contact region, to form the first contact, and concertedly onto a mesa-contact region of the mesa, to form the second contact.

A multijunction solar cell which includes: an upper first solar subcell having a first band gap; a second solar subcell adjacent to said upper first solar subcell and having a second band gap smaller than said first band gap; a third solar subcell adjacent to said second solar subcell and having a third band gap smaller than said second band gap; a graded interlayer adjacent to said third solar subcell, said graded interlayer having a fourth band gap greater than said third band gap; and at least a fourth solar subcell adjacent to said graded interlayer, said fourth solar subcell having a fifth band gap smaller than said third band gap such that said lower fourth solar subcell is lattice mismatched with respect to said third solar subcell.

Described herein are non-stoichiometric perovskite ink solutions, comprising: a first composition of formula FA.sub.1-xCs.sub.xBX.sub.3; a second composition of CsX, FAX, REX.sub.3, or REX.sub.2; and one or more solvents; wherein x, X, RE, and B are as defined herein. Methods for preparing polycrystalline perovskite films using the non-stoichiometric ink solutions and the use of the films in large-size solar modules are additionally described.

Provided is a tandem photovoltaic device comprising: a top cell, a bottom cell, and a first light-trapping structure, in stacking, wherein a band-gap width of the top cell is larger than that of the bottom cell; and at least one of a second light-trapping structure located on a side of a shading surface of the bottom cell and a third light-trapping structure located on a side of a phototropic surface of the top cell; the three light-trapping structures are selected from metal or semiconductor material, and localized surface plasmons generated by the three light-trapping structures correspond to different peaks of light-wave response; and the three light-trapping structures form microstructures on a first cross section, average sizes d1, d2 and d3 of projections of the microstructures and average distances w1, w2 and w3 between the microstructures have relationships: $2{\left(\frac{w1}{w2}\right)}^2.Math.\frac{d2}{d1}16,\mathrm{and}/\mathrm{or}2{\left(\frac{w3}{w1}\right)}^2.Math.\frac{d1}{d3}16.$

The present inventive concept provides a solar cell and a method for manufacturing the solar cell. The solar cell comprises a solar cell layer on a substrate and an encapsulation layer provided on the solar cell layer. The encapsulation layer comprises a metal oxide doped with a dopant material or a metal oxynitride doped with a dopant material; and the metal oxide or the metal oxynitride comprises at least one metal selected from the group consisting of W, Nb, and Sn.

Systems and methods are provided for wirelessly transferring power to a multi-junction photovoltaic cell of a space apparatus via a light emission system. The light emission system uses multiple lasers emitting different wavelengths and/or photon energies to produce electron-hole pairs in each layer of the multi-junction photovoltaic cell to prompt power generation by the multi-junction photovoltaic cell. The light emission system may be located on Earth or on another space apparatus. The multi-junction photovoltaic cell can convert sunlight and the light emitted by the light emission system into electrical energy.

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a solar cell and a photovoltaic module. The solar cell includes a thin-film solar cell and a bottom cell stacked in a first direction. The bottom cell includes: a transparent conductive layer, a first doped conductive layer, an intrinsic amorphous silicon layer, a substrate, a second doped conductive layer, and one or more electrodes that are stacked in the first direction. The transparent conductive layer is between the thin-film solar cell and the first doped conductive layer, and the one or more electrodes are formed on a side of the second doped conductive layer away from the substrate, the one or more electrodes are in ohmic contact with the second doped conductive layer. The first doped conductive layer includes a doped amorphous silicon layer or a doped microcrystalline silicon layer.

A low bandgap absorber region (LBAR) used in a laser power converter (LPC). The laser power converter is comprised of one or more subcells on a substrate, wherein at least one of the subcells has an emitter and base, with the low bandgap absorber region coupled between the emitter and base. The emitter and base are comprised of a material with a bandgap higher than a wavelength of incident laser light, and the low bandgap absorber region is comprised of a material with a bandgap lower than the emitter and base. The emitter and base are transparent to the incident laser light, and the low bandgap absorber region absorbs the incident laser light and generates a current in response thereto, such that the current is controlled by the material and thickness of the low bandgap absorber region. The low bandgap absorber region is configured to produce a current balanced to the subcells connected in series.

Photovoltaic devices having transparent contact layers are described herein.