Newly developed solar panels can self-heal and repair themselves when damaged by space radiation.
in space. The researchers behind the new study, from the University of Sydney and the Centre for Accelerator Science in Australia, think they're found a solution."Space hardware will be exposed to proton radiation on these orbits,"the researchers in their published paper."Therefore, it is of great interest to evaluate radiation stability for PSCs."
In lab conditions designed to simulate the effects of proton radiation across tens or even hundreds of years, the researchers tested ultrathinsuitable for use in satellites, the first time that materials with these properties had been tested like this. The experiments found that the hole transport material in the PSC was crucial to how much damage it could take and how well it could heal. The HTM facilitates the movement of holes in solar cells, enabling them to stay separated and for electricity to be produced. were shown to be best at resisting proton radiation damage. Carefully configured, the HTM can also enable self-healing of the panels and all the way back up to 100 percent of their efficiency.
Getting that working will take a lot more research, but this study shows that it's possible – that we could one day have spacecraft powered by solar panels that can repair themselves. Considering the high costs of"We hope that the insights generated by this work will help future efforts in developing low-cost lightweight solar cells for future space applications,"
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