A wireless power transfer pad for wireless charging of a vehicle electrical storage system. The wireless power transfer pad includes an oscillating electromagnetic field generating device configured for transmitting energy to a wireless power receiver associated with the vehicle. The pad further includes a foreign object detection arrangement including a plurality of foreign object detection coils. The solar panel arrangement includes a photovoltaic substrate with a front side and a rear side, a front side electrode arrangement and a rear side electrode arrangement. The foreign object detection coils are configured to function also as the front side electrode arrangement.

A transparent photovoltaic device includes a transparent substrate, a transparent bottom electrode coupled to the transparent substrate, an active layer coupled to the transparent bottom electrode, and a transparent multilayer top electrode. The transparent multilayer top electrode includes a seed layer deposited on the active layer, a first metal layer deposited on the seed layer, an interconnect layer deposited on the first metal layer, and a second metal layer deposited on the interconnect layer. The transparent photovoltaic device is characterized by an average visible transmission (AVT) greater than 25% and a top electrode sheet resistance that is less than 100 Ohm/sq.

A selective emitter for thermophotovoltaic energy conversion and method for fabricating the same is disclosed. The selective emitter includes a germanium wafer, and a reflective layer deposited on a first side of the germanium wafer. The reflective layer includes tungsten. The selective emitter also includes an anti-reflective layer deposited on a second side of the germanium wafer opposite the first side. The anti-reflective layer includes Si.sub.3N.sub.4. The method for fabricating a selective emitter for thermophotovoltaic energy conversion includes deposing a reflective layer on a first side of a germanium wafer, and deposing an anti-reflective layer on a second side of the germanium wafer, the first side being opposite the second side. The germanium wafer may be undoped. The reflective layer may be sputtered onto the germanium wafer. The anti-reflective layer may be deposited on the germanium wafer using plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition.

A bifacial solar cell includes a silicon substrate; an emitter layer; a plurality of first electrodes locally on the emitter layer; a first aluminum oxide layer on the emitter layer; a first silicon oxide layer between the first aluminum oxide layer and the emitter layer; a first anti-reflection layer on the first aluminum oxide layer; a back surface field layer on the silicon substrate; a second aluminum oxide layer on the silicon substrate; a second silicon oxide layer between the second aluminum oxide layer and the silicon substrate; a second anti-reflection layer on the second aluminum oxide layer; and a plurality of second electrodes respectively on the back surface field layers through the second anti-reflection layer, the second aluminum oxide layer and the second silicon oxide layer.

Disclosed are a solar cell including an upper cell includes an upper passivation layer disposed on an upper surface of a functional layer, a transparent electrode disposed on an upper surface of the upper passivation layer, an upper first charge transport layer disposed on an upper surface of the transparent electrode, an upper electrode disposed on the upper first of the transparent electrode to be adjacent to the upper surface charge transport layer, an upper second charge transport layer disposed on the upper surface of the functional layer to be spaced apart from the upper passivation layer, the transparent electrode, the upper first charge transport layer, and the upper electrode, and an upper absorption layer disposed on the upper passivation layer, the transparent electrode, the upper first charge transport layer, and the upper second charge transport layer.

The invention provides an anti-glare coating of wide bandgap nanostructured oxide material so as to reduce the dazzling reflections of sunlight and avoid light pollution generated by spacecraft. The coating provides selective electrodeposition of a nanostructured wide bandgap oxide material on the metal contact grid on the surface of a solar panel of a spacecraft or a satellite in which the metal contact grid constitutes the cathode, and the resulting nanostructures have a width and spacing less than the wavelength ‘λ’ of the incident light or equal to ‘λ/n’ with λ located between 180 nm and 8μm, and ‘n’ being the refractive index of the nanostructured material so that for angles of incidence between 0.01 and 90 degrees less than 0.5% of light is reflected.

Disclosed is a solar cell. The solar cell includes a semiconductor substrate, conductivity-type regions located in or on the semiconductor substrate, electrodes conductively connected to the conductivity-type regions, and insulating films located on at least one of opposite surfaces of the semiconductor substrate, and including a first film and a second film located on the first film, the second film has a higher carbon content than that of the first film, a refractive index of the second film is equal to or less than a refractive index of the first film, and an extinction coefficient of the second film is equal to or greater than an extinction coefficient of the first film.

A photovoltaic cell and a fabricating method of the photovoltaic cell are provided. The photovoltaic cell includes: a substrate layer; an emitter layer, wherein the emitter layer is provided at a first face of the substrate layer; a plurality of front-face metal grid lines, wherein the plurality of front-face metal grid lines are provided in parallel at a side of the emitter layer that is away from the substrate layer; and a plurality of diffuse-reflection layers, wherein the plurality of diffuse-reflection layers are provided individually at a side of each of the front-face metal grid lines that are away from the emitter layer, and the diffuse-reflection layers are in correspondence with the front-face metal grid lines one to one. The diffuse-reflection layers are provided on the front-face metal grid lines to increase the diffuse reflection of the light emitting the front-face metal grid lines.

Methods of fabricating solar cell emitter regions with differentiated P-type and N-type regions architectures, and resulting solar cells, are described. In an example, a solar cell can include a substrate having a light-receiving surface and a back surface. A first doped region of a first conductivity type, wherein the first doped region is disposed in a first portion of the back surface. A first thin dielectric layer disposed over the back surface of the substrate, where a portion of the first thin dielectric layer is disposed over the first doped region of the first conductivity type. A first semiconductor layer disposed over the first thin dielectric layer. A second doped region of a second conductivity type in the first semiconductor layer, where the second doped region is disposed over a second portion of the back surface. A first conductive contact disposed over the first doped region and a second conductive contact disposed over the second doped region.

A photoelectric converter including a crystalline silicon substrate having a light receiving surface including a smooth section and a rough surface section having surface roughness greater than the surface roughness of the smooth section and a light transmissive inorganic film so provided as to overlap with the smooth section and the rough surface section, and the film thickness t1 of a portion of the inorganic film that is the portion where the inorganic film overlaps with the rough surface section is smaller than the film thickness t2 of a portion of the inorganic film that is the portion where the inorganic film overlaps with the smooth section. The arithmetic average roughness of the rough surface section is preferably greater than or equal to 0.1 μm.