Abstract In this paper, we demonstrate a simple and effective method to control the visibility of embedded silicon solar cells in building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) windows by surface structure modification and metal-oxide back coating. The surface structure modification by etching the front glass in BIPV modules and the use of a thin niobium pentoxide (Nb2O5) film as a back coating enable the silicon solar cells to be hidden from view without a serious loss in the power efficiency. By employing the etched front glass and Nb2O5 back coating, silicon solar cells embedded in the BIPV module exhibited power conversion efficiency of 15.23% and fill factor of 65.05%. We also investigate the origin of the improved photovoltaic performance of the solar cells in the BIPV modules. The surface modification of the front cover glass of the BIPV windows enhances the light absorption in the solar cells, which results in the improved photovoltaic performance degraded by a metal-oxide back coating. We believe that the proposed surface modification which induces light trapping and anti-reflection into the cover glass of the BIPV modules with a metal-oxide back coating film is a promising and practical solution for the successful integration of BIPV windows with high efficiency and invisibility.

中文翻译：

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使用表面结构改性和金属氧化物背面涂层控制建筑集成光伏窗户中嵌入式硅太阳能电池的可见性

摘要 在本文中，我们展示了一种简单有效的方法，通过表面结构改性和金属氧化物背面涂层来控制建筑集成光伏 (BIPV) 窗户中嵌入式硅太阳能电池的可见性。通过蚀刻 BIPV 模块中的前玻璃进行表面结构修改，并使用五氧化二铌 (Nb2O5) 薄膜作为背面涂层，使硅太阳能电池能够隐藏起来，而不会严重降低功率效率。通过采用蚀刻前玻璃和 Nb2O5 背面涂层，嵌入 BIPV 模块的硅太阳能电池表现出 15.23% 的功率转换效率和 65.05% 的填充因子。我们还研究了 BIPV 模块中太阳能电池光伏性能提高的原因。BIPV 窗前盖玻璃的表面改性增强了太阳能电池中的光吸收，这导致金属氧化物背涂层降低了光伏性能的改善。我们认为，所提出的表面改性可以将光捕获和抗反射引入带有金属氧化物背涂层的 BIPV 模块的盖板玻璃中，对于成功集成具有高效率和不可见性的 BIPV 窗而言，这是一个有前景且实用的解决方案。