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

In a published in January 2024 in Nature Communications, of materials researchers demonstrated that a next-generation semiconductor material called can actually itself from radiation damage.

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

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

Surprisingly, these perform as well as conventional silicon solar cells in laboratory demonstrations, even though they are than traditional solar cells.

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

To test how they might hold up in space, my team developed a radiation experiment. We exposed perovskite solar cells 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?

In our paper, we started to unravel this mystery.

Why it matters

Scientists predict that in the next 10 years, satellite launches into near-Earth orbit , and space agencies such as NASA aim to establish bases on the moon.

Materials that can tolerate extreme radiation and self-heal would change the game.

that deploying just a few pounds of perovskite materials into space could generate up to 10,000,000 watts of power. It currently costs about US$4,000 per kilogram ($1,818 per pound) , so efficient materials are important.

What still isn't known

Our findings shed light on a remarkable aspect of perovskites—their tolerance to damage and defects. are a type of , which means that their atoms can move into different states that scientists call vibrational modes.

Atoms in perovskites are normally arranged in a lattice formation. But radiation can knock the atoms out of position, damaging the material. The vibrations might help reposition the atoms back into place, but we're still not sure exactly how this process works.

What's next?

Our findings suggest that soft materials might be uniquely helpful in extreme environments, including space.

But radiation isn't the only stress that materials have to weather in space. Scientists don't yet know how perovskites will fare when exposed to vacuum conditions and extreme temperature variations, along with radiation, all at once. Temperature could play a role in the healing behavior my team saw, but we'll need to conduct more research to determine how.

These results tell us that soft materials could help scientists develop technology that works well in extreme environments. Future research could dive deeper into how the vibrations in these materials relate to any self-healing properties.

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