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Perovskite solar cells have already demonstrated high radiation hardness substantially exceeding that of crystalline silicon and GaAs based solar panels commonly used in space. However, aerospace applications of PSCs require a number of other important prerequisites, among which the stability towards a combination of multiple stress factors characteristic of the outer space environment is of particular importance. Herein, we present an in-depth investigation of the influence of the Eu2+/Eu3+ redox pair on the intrinsic photostability of PbI2 and complex lead halides. We confirm that the incorporation of europium effectively suppresses the photochemical production of metallic lead and other aging products. Furthermore, the Eu-modified methylammonium-free double cation perovskite formulation Cs0.12FA0.88Pb0.99Eu0.01I3 demonstrated excellent radiation hardness under exposure to ultrahigh doses of gamma rays (5.5 MGy) and 8.5 MeV electron beams (fluences up to 3 × 1016 e per cm²) owing to the mitigated aging pathways such as radiochemical Pb0 formation and segregation of CsPbI3 and/or FAPbI3 Ζ-phases. Thus, the stabilizing effect of the Eu2+/Eu3+ redox shuttle was exploited here for the first time to substantially increase the stability of perovskite absorber materials with respect to three different stress factors simultaneously: light, gamma-rays and high-energy electrons. Further development of this research direction might facilitate commercialization of PSCs for aerospace applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The results of numerical SRIM and SCAPS calculations for the ionization, displacement and heating of hybrid perovskites under the influence of protons (E = 0.15, 3.0 and 18 MeV) are presented and show that the lowest transfer energy is demonstrated by the MAPbI3, FAPbBr3 and FAPbI3 compounds, which represent the greatest potential for use as solar cells in space devices. On the other hand, it is found that perovskite compositions containing FA and Cs and with mixed cations are the most stable from the point of view of the formation of vacancies and phonons and are also promising as radiation-resistant materials with respect to powerful proton fluxes. Taking into account the lateral distribution of proton tracks showed that, at an energy level of several MeV, the release of their energy can be considered uniform over the depth and area of the entire solar cell, suggesting that the simple protection by plastic films from the low-energy protons is sufficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated the photochemical stability of PbX2 (X = I and Br) halides by optical and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The optical absorbance displayed a strong reduction for PbI2 with light soaking and permanent behavior for PbBr2. The XPS survey spectra showed a sharp drop in the I:Pb ratio for PbI2 from 1.63 to 1.14 with exposure time from 0 to 1000 h while for PbBr2, it remains practically unchanged (1.59–1.55). The measurements of the XPS Pb 4f and Pb 5d spectra have shown the partial photolysis of PbI2 with the release of metallic lead whereas PbBr2 demonstrated remarkable photochemical stability. According to the density functional theory (DFT), calculations of the metal and iodide vacancy formation energies for PbBr2 are higher than for PbI2 which confirms the better stability to light soaking. The high photochemical stability of PbBr2 means that it can be used as excess under MAPbBr3 perovskite synthesis to improve not only the power conversion efficiency but also stability to light soaking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]