TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - ELECTRICAL POWER AND ENERGY - Preferred Components: The solar cell module comprises a front encapsulant layer laminated to the light-receiving side of the solar cell layer and a back encapsulant layer laminated to the non-light-receiving side of the solar cell layer, where at least one of the front and back encapsulant layers comprises the sheet comprising the nanofilled ionomer composition, and the other of the front and back encapsulant layers comprises the copolymer of alpha -olefin and alpha , beta -ethylenically unsaturated carboxylic acid or their ionomer, poly(ethylene vinyl acetate), poly(vinyl acetal), polyurethane, PVC, polyethylene, polyolefin block elastomer, silicone elastomer and/or epoxy resin, where a layer comprising the nanofilled ionomer composition is directly laminated to the solar cell layer. The solar cell module comprises in order of position: an incident layer which is an outermost surface layer of the module and is positioned on the light-receiving side of the solar cell layer, where the incident layer comprises a glass sheet, a polymeric sheet comprising polycarbonate, acrylic, polyacrylate, cyclic polyolefin, polystyrene, polyamide, polyester and/or fluoropolymer, or a polymeric film comprising polyester, polycarbonate, polyolefin, norbornene polymer, polystyrene, styrene-acrylate copolymer, acrylonitrile-styrene copolymers, polysulfone, polyamide, polyurethane, acrylic, cellulose acetate, cellophane, PVC and/or fluoropolymer; a front encapsulant layer laminated to the light-receiving side of the solar cell layer; the solar cell layer; a back encapsulant layer laminated to the non-light receiving side of the solar cell layer; and optionally a backing layer, where the incident layer is an outermost surface layer of the module and is positioned on the non-light receiving side of the solar cell layer, and at least one of the front and back encapsulant layers is the sheet comprising the nanofilled ionomer composition, and the optional backing layer comprises a glass sheet, a polymeric sheet, a polymeric film, a metal sheet, or ceramic plate, and the polymeric sheet comprises a polycarbonate, acrylic, polyacrylate, cyclic polyolefin, polystyrene, polyamide, polyester and/or fluoropolymer, and the polymeric film. Each of the front and back encapsulant layers comprises the nanofilled ionomer composition. The solar cells are wafer-based solar cells comprising crystalline silicon or multi-crystalline silicone based solar cells. The solar cells are thin film solar cells comprising amorphous silicon, microcrystalline silicon, cadmium telluride, copper indium selenide, copper indium/gallium diselenide, light absorbing dye, or organic semiconductor based solar cells. The solar cell module comprises in order of position: the incident layer, the front encapsulant layer comprising the sheet comprising the nanofilled ionomer composition, and the solar cell layer, where the solar cell layer further comprises a substrate upon which the thin film solar cells are deposited and the substrate is positioned such that the substrate is an outermost surface of the module and is positioned on the non-light-receiving side of the solar cell layer; or the solar cell layer, the back encapsulant layer comprising the sheet comprising the nanofilled ionomer composition, and a backing layer, where the solar cell layer further comprises a superstrate upon which the thin film solar cells are deposited and the superstrate is positioned such that the superstrate is an outermost surface of the module on the light-receiving side of the solar cell layer. Preferred Method: The nanofilled ionomer composition is prepared by either: mixing the second ionomer with water heated to 80-90 degrees C to provide a heated aqueous ionomer dispersion, optionally cooling the aqueous ionomer dispersion to ambient temperature, mixing the aqueous ionomer dispersion with the nanofiller to provide an aqueous dispersion of ionomer and nanofiller, removing the water from the aqueous dispersion of ionomer and nanofiller to provide a mixture of water dispersible ionomer and nanofiller in solid form and melt blending the mixture of water dispersible ionomer and nanofiller with the first ionomer; or combining the second ionomer, water and the nanofiller in a high-shear melt-mixing process in a piece of equipment to form a melted mixture, continuing the high-shear melt-mixing until the nanoparticles are sufficiently comminuted or dispersed, optionally, removing some or all of the water from the melted mixture, optionally, repeating the addition and removal of water from the melted mixture, adding the first ionomer to the melted mixture to form the nanofilled ionomer composition, and removing the nanofilled ionomer composition from the piece of equipment.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - INORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Components: The nanofiller is present at a level of 3-70 wt.% based on the total weight of the nanofilled ionomer composition and comprises a nano-sized silica (such as fumed silica, colloidal silica, fused silica and/or silicate), a nanoclay (such as hectorite, smectite, fluorohectorite, montmorillonite, bentonite, beidellite, saponite, stevensite, sauconite, nontronite, illite, synthetic nanoclay and/or modified nanoclay) or carbon nanofibers, and has a particle size of 0.9-200 nm, and the average aspect ratio of the nanofiller is 30-150. The nanofiller is preferably a synthetic hectorite that is a type 2 sodium magnesium silicate having a cation exchange capacity of 60 milliequivalents/100 g, in a platelet form, and having a particle size of at least 50 nm in its largest dimension and 1 nm thickness.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - POLYMERS - Preferred Components: The precursor ~-olefin carboxylic acid copolymer 18-23 wt.% of copolymerized units of the alpha , beta -ethylenically unsaturated carboxylic acid, where the precursor alpha -olefin carboxylic acid copolymer has a MFR of less than or equal to 100 (preferably less than or equal to 30) g/10 minutes, and the ionomer has a MFR of less than or equal to 30 (preferably 5) g/10 minutes and a flexural modulus greater than 40000 psi (276 MPa), as determined in accordance with ASTM D638. The sheet is a: monolayer that consists essentially of the nanofilled ionomer composition; or a multilayer sheet having at least two sub-layers, and where at least one of the sub-layers consists essentially of the nanofilled ionomer composition and preferably each of the other sub-layers present in the multilayer sheet comprises the copolymer of alpha -olefin and alpha , beta -ethylenically unsaturated carboxylic acid or their ionomer, poly(ethylene vinyl acetate), poly(vinyl acetal), polyurethane, PVC, polyethylene, polyolefin block elastomer, silicone elastomer and/or epoxy resin.