Moore and More ›› 2026, Vol. 2 ›› Issue (1): 15-24.DOI: 10.1007/s44275-025-00031-6

• ORIGINAL ARTICLE • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Evaluating the protective efficacy of polymer encapsulation layer for perovskite solar cells under space radiation exposure

Hongkai Zhang1,2, Kang Wei2, Guodong Zhang2, Yuqing Yue1,2, Yuchuan Shao2, Bin Wei1,3,4, Wei Shi1,3,4,*(), Yifan Zheng2,*()   

  1. 1 School of Microelectronics, Shanghai University , Shanghai 200444, China
    2 Key Laboratory of Materials for High-Power Laser, Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201800, China
    3 School of Mechatronic Engineering and Automation, Shanghai University , Shanghai 200072, China
    4 Key Laboratory of Advanced Display and System Applications, Ministry of Education, Shanghai 200072, China
  • Received:2025-01-10 Revised:2025-02-22 Accepted:2025-03-03 Published:2025-10-23 Online:2025-10-23
  • Contact: *Wei Shi (shiwei@shu.edu.cn)
    *Yifan Zheng (yifanzheng@siom.ac.cn)
  • About author:Hongkai Zhang is a master’s student at Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics (SIOM), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and Shanghai University (SHU). He received his B.S. degree from Shanghai Dianji University (SDJU) of Material Forming and Control Engineering in 2018. His research focuses on perovskite solar cells.
    Kang Wei is a master’s degree candidate at Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics (SIOM) and University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS). He received his bachelor’s degree from Nanjing Tech University in 2019. His research focuses on perovskite optoelectronic devices.
    Guodong Zhang received his bachelor’s degree and master’s degree from China University of Petroleum in 2017 and 2020, respectively. He received his Ph.D. degree from Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics (SIOM) in 2023. He has long been engaged in the research of photovoltaic technology related to organic materials and perovskite materials.
    Yuqing Yue is a master’s student at Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics (SIOM), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and Shanghai University (SHU). She received her B.S. degree from Guilin University of Electronic Science and Technology in 2018. Her research focuses on perovskite solar cells.
    Yuchuan Shao is a researcher at Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics (SIOM), Chinese Academy of Sciences. He received his master’s degree from Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics (SIOM) in 2012. He received his Ph.D. from University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2016. He completed his postdoctoral studies with a postdoctoral fellowship at Yale University (2016–2017) and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2018). His research focuses on flexible solar cells, high-efficiency perovskite quantum dot light-emitting diodes, and perovskite X-ray detectors.
    Bin Wei is a professor at Shanghai University, China. He received his bachelor of science and master of science degrees from Peking University in 1990 and 1993, respectively. He received his Ph.D. from University of Tsukuba, Japan in 2002 and doctor of engineering from Shinshu University in 2006. He was a lecturer at Peking University, a special researcher at the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science and Technology, and a visiting professor at Beihang University. His research focuses on organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) and organic field effect transistors (OFETs).
    Wei Shi is a professor at Shanghai University, China. She received her Ph.D. in engineering from University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (USTC) in 2017, and received the Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award from the Chinese Institute of Electronics (CIE) in 2019. She completed her postdoctoral research at the Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 2018–2021, under the Postdoctoral Innovative Talent Support. Her main research interests include organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) and interface modification of organic field effect transistor (OFET) devices and OFET-based biological and gas sensors.
    Yifan Zheng is now an associate professor at Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics (SIOM, CAS). He received his Ph.D. degree in optical engineering from University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, and then completed his postdoctoral research at the State Key Laboratory of Artificial Microstructure and Mesoscopic Physics, Department of Physics, Peking University. His research interests are focused on the design and optimization of the organic and perovskite optoelectronic devices.

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Abstract:

Flexible perovskite solar cells (FPSCs) have demonstrated considerable potential as a next-generation photovoltaic technology for space applications. However, their performance stability in space radiation environments remains a critical challenge. This paper proposes a performance evaluation strategy for FPSCs subjected to space irradiation damage. This strategy integrates a radiation damage model with a multi-physics field-coupled optoelectronic device performance simulation methodology, systematically assessing the protective efficacy of four commonly utilized polymer encapsulants under low Earth orbit proton radiation exposure. The results show that polyimide (PI) is better at blocking protons at all energy levels, making it the best encapsulation material for FPSCs. Furthermore, COMSOL fitting calculations reveal that PI-encapsulated devices exhibit sustained high performance following radiation exposure, underscoring their remarkable stability in terms of opto-electronic performance. This study provides a robust theoretical foundation and technical support for the protective design of spacecraft components and serves as a significant reference for the selection of appropriate encapsulation materials for future space applications.

Key words: Proton irradiation, Space photovoltaics, Encapsulation, Radiation damage simulation, COMSOL

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