The space environment is harsh and full of extreme radiation.

The space environment is harsh and full of extreme radiation. Scientists designing spacecraft and satellites need materials that can withstand these conditions.

In a paper published in January 2024, my team of materials researchers demonstrated that a next-generation semiconductor material called metal-halide perovskite can actually recover and heal itself from radiation damage.

Metal-halide perovskites are a class of materials discovered in 1839 that are found abundantly in Earth's crust. They absorb sunlight and efficiently convert it into electricity, making them a potentially good fit for space-based solar panels that can power satellites or future space habitats. 

Researchers make perovskites in the form of inks, then coat the inks onto glass plates or plastic, creating thin, filmlike devices that are lightweight and flexible.

Surprisingly, these thin-film solar cells perform as well as conventional silicon solar cells in laboratory demonstrations, even though they are almost 100 times thinner than traditional solar cells. 

But these films can degrade if they're exposed to moisture or oxygen. Researchers and industry are currently working on addressing these stability concerns for terrestrial deployment. 

To test how they might hold up in space, my team developed a radiation experiment. We exposed perovskite solar cells to protons at both low and high energies and found a unique, new property.

The high-energy protons healed the damage caused by the low-energy protons, allowing the device to recover and continue doing its job. The conventional semiconductors used for space electronics do not show this healing.

My team was surprised by this finding. How can a material that degrades when exposed to oxygen and moisture not only resist the harsh radiation of space but also self-heal in an environment that destroys conventional silicon semiconductors?