Perovskite In Space Construction and Production Experiment (PERISCOPE)

The purpose of this task is to determine the broad considerations and system-level requirements on a novel hosted payload that will act as a platform to produce efficient ultra-thin perovskite solar cells and arrays.  The project plan shall include laboratory-determined process and environmental sensitivities to inform those requirements.  The project plan and ConOps shall include requirements for both a feasibility demonstrator unit as well as considerations and requirements for scale up to large arrays as a project goal.   The overall goal is to advance the state of the art in ultrathin perovskite-based solar arrays. These materials have been shown to be durable to the space environment, yet are highly sensitive to the terrestrial environment, namely moisture impingement that causes rapid degradation. Avoiding degradation requires heavy encapsulation. As these materials are very thin (<250nm) they offer the potential for extreme specific power (~100X improvement over state of the art). The goal here is to demonstrate the potential for in space manufacture that will eliminate the need for heavy encapsulation, enable the use of thin, gossamer substrate materials and enable the fabrication of extremely large arrays via the use of a mass production platform already in orbit that is fed raw precursor and produces functional cells and arrays.   This task will formulate a project plan for the studies that will inform a more complete plan for a device capable of producing ultrathin perovskite-based solar arrays in-space. This advances the state of the art of ultra-thin perovskite solar cells and arrays by potentially reducing some of the risks associated with the manufacture of the ultra-thin perovskite.

The PERISCOPE implementation effort that begins after the Project Plan approval will include, determining the component and system level requirements of a synthesis tool that shall: 1. Deposit the layer-by-layer stackup for ultrathin perovskite solar cells 2. Be incorporated into a payload that can accept substrate materials and deliver functional perovskite solar cell arrays in vacuum and/or controlled environment on a hosted platform. This includes determining minimum size, mass and power for operation. Note that the synthesis tool may operate in space vacuum, such as LEO, to enable the production of very large solar arrays as a goal. To effectively develop the synthesis tool for in space production of perovskite solar cells this team shall develop a full map of the process sensitivities, an existing vacuum-based deposition platform will be used to determine the variables associated with depositing, annealing etc. of each layer in the device stack up. The deposition tool shall be used to fabricate the materials and devices under a large matrix of varying conditions and then tested for performance. Performance testing shall include such techniques as microscopy, optical absorbance, photovoltaic efficiency, quantum efficiency, etc. The tools used to make these measurements are in hand and functional in the energy conversion and opto-electronic characterization labs at GRC. Process sensitivities and layer-by-layer fabrication will be exposed to space environmental interaction in ground-based simulators, including the plasma interaction facility at GRC, to determine robustness to the environment on the timescale of production. Note that these tests are not meant to determine system longevity, but to inform the requirements of the synthesis platform. The implementation phase of PERISCOPE will develop a rank-ordered list of requirements that the deposition system must meet to develop perovskite solar cells and hold a system requirements review (SRR) to an independent review panel for feedback.

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