German scientists have proposed power generation for future habitats on the moon could be achieved by manufacturing halide perovskite cells locally, using regolith-based moonglass.
In the paper “Moon photovoltaics utilising lunar regolith and halide perovskites,” which was published on Device, they explained that the proposed manufacturing solution could save 99% of material transport weight and thus costs.
The University of Potsdam Institute of Physics and Astronomy scientists led by Julian Mauricio Cuervo-Ortiz also said that local production of perovskites on the moon would enable specific power ratios, over 22-50 W/g, a factor of 20-100 higher compared to traditional space solar solutions, which could be achieved while not compromising radiation shielding, reliability, and mechanical stability as done until now.
“Using anorthosite high-glass-forming regolith simulant, we achieve transparent moonglasses that allow depositing high-quality perovskites,” the scientists said.
The research group tested three device configurations based on opaque copper (Cu) electrodes in a superstrate configuration and transparent ultrathin metal and indium zinc oxide (IZO) designs in substrate configurations.
“In the substrate configurations, efficiencies reached 9.4% (with the ultrathin metal contact) and 12.1% (with IZO) on moonglass under unoptimized conditions for the deposition of the contact layers, comparable to efficiencies achieved on normal glass substrates,” the academics stressed. “Further optimization of the transparent contact layers to reduce the series resistance of the devices could allow an efficiency of 17.5%”
The research says the moonglass exhibits high tolerance to high-energetic proton irradiation, which, when combined with the radiation tolerance of perovskites, allows highly radiation-tolerant, reliable devices paving the way to future sustainable lunar-energy solutions.
Looking forward, the researchers believe that perovskite solar cells manufactured on the Moon via the proposed process may reach efficiencies of over 23%. “Combining high radiation tolerance, highest power-per-launched-mass ratios, and a facile fabrication, our regolith-based Moon-perovskite solar cells are the most promising route to power future Moon habitats in the near future,” they concluded.
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