Radiation Effects and Performance of Perovskite Solar Cells

Metal-halide perovskite solar cells combine high power conversion efficiency with lightweight, flexible form factors and low-temperature solution processing, making them attractive for both terrestrial and space applications. The inherently soft crystalline lattice of these materials imparts unusual responses to high-energy particle irradiation. Incident protons, electrons or neutrons can induce atomic displacements and electronic ionisation, creating vacancy-interstitial defects and trap states that degrade carrier lifetimes, open-circuit voltage and fill factor. Remarkably, certain perovskite compositions and device architectures exhibit substantial radiation tolerance, retaining a majority of their initial performance under harsh irradiation doses. Recent work has further revealed self-annealing mechanisms whereby ionising energy loss from high-energy particles can partially heal defect populations. Understanding the balance between displacement damage, radiolysis of organic cations and ionisation-driven recovery is essential for designing perovskite devices capable of long-term operation in high-radiation environments, from low-Earth orbit to deep space missions.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Recent studies employing dual-dose proton irradiation have deconvolved the distinct roles of non-ionising and ionising energy loss in perovskite damage and recovery. Low-energy protons predominantly produce atomic displacements that generate deep trap states and degrade device efficiency, whereas subsequent exposure to higher-energy protons with greater ionising energy loss has been shown to anneal initial defects. Correlated modelling of energy deposition pathways confirms that ionisation can promote migration and recombination of displaced ions, partially restoring open-circuit voltage and fill factor. These insights establish electronic ionisation as a controllable handle for mitigating radiation-induced degradation in soft-lattice photovoltaic materials.

Radiation Effects and Performance of Perovskite Solar Cells publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in radiation effects and performance of perovskite solar cells across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Displacement damage: Defect creation in the crystal lattice when energetic particles displace atoms from their sites.

Ionising energy loss: Energy transferred from radiation to electrons, leading to ionisation and potential defect annealing.

Trap state: Localised electronic defect that captures charge carriers, reducing carrier lifetime and device efficiency.

Radiolysis: Chemical bond breaking induced by ionising radiation, particularly affecting organic cations in perovskites.

Tandem solar cell: Photovoltaic device composed of stacked subcells with complementary bandgaps to maximise light harvesting.

References

1. Unraveling radiation damage and healing mechanisms in halide perovskites using energy-tuned dual irradiation dosing. Nature Communications (2024).
2. Advances in Perovskites for Photovoltaic Applications in Space. ACS Energy Letters (2022).
3. Proton‐Radiation Tolerant All‐Perovskite Multijunction Solar Cells. Advanced Energy Materials (2021).
4. Tolerance of Perovskite Solar Cells under Proton and Electron Irradiation. Materials (2022).