Chemistry and Materials Science Seminar: Perovskites for Space Power: How Close Are We?
Chemistry and Materials Science Seminar
Perovskites for Space Power: How Close Are We?
Dr. Ahmad Kirmani
Assistant Professor, School of Chemistry and Materials Science
Rochester Institute of Technology
Event Details:
Halide perovskite photovoltaics are emerging as a compelling platform for space power, thanks to the soft lattices of these semiconductors that enable defect healing and tolerance. Perovskite solar cells offer high specific power, manufacturability, and rapidly improving stability under extreme environments. A key obstacle to broad credibility is degradation initiated at buried interfaces, where incomplete interlayer coverage, interfacial electrochemistry, and nonradiative recombination can accelerate degradation under low-Earth-orbit (LEO) stressors. Here, I describe an interface- and barrier-centric device architecture that mitigates these failure pathways by integrating a bilayer hole-transport layer, a bilayer metal electrode, and an ultrathin oxide barrier layer. This stack exhibits tolerance to multiple LEO-relevant stressors, including proton irradiation, thermal aging, ultraviolet exposure, atomic oxygen, and reverse-bias operation. Under continuous 1.2-sun AM1.5G illumination with maximum-power-point tracking at 65 °C, unencapsulated devices achieve T90 ≈ 3000 h and T80 ≈ 5900 h. Finally, I will discuss recent LEO flight heritage from a CubeSat payload, where the same device concept retained ~80% of its initial performance after ~100 days in orbit. These results highlight the surprising potential of soft chemistries to sustain and thrive in harsh environments.
Intended Audience:
All are Welcome!
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Event Snapshot
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