Ismael Timothy, Abbas Muhammad Aamir, Harris Owen P, Ingrish George B, Bush Meghan E, Sasson Joshua M, McNatt Jeremiah S, Escarra Matthew David
Department of Physics and Engineering Physics, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana 70118-5636, United States.
NASA Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio 44135, United States.
ACS Appl Energy Mater. 2025 Jan 2;8(1):87-98. doi: 10.1021/acsaem.4c01797. eCollection 2025 Jan 13.
Two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) such as MoS and WSe are excellent candidates for photovoltaic (PV) applications. Here, we present the modeling, fabrication, and characterization of large-area CVD-grown MoS-based flexible PV on an off-the-shelf, 3 μm-thick flexible colorless polyimide with polyimide encapsulation designed for space structures. The devices are characterized under 1 sun AM0 illumination and show a of 0.180 V and a specific power of 0.001 kW/kg for a subnanometer-thick, single MoS monolayer absorber. Model projections indicate that the polyimide encapsulant introduces negligible absorption loss, and up to 12.97 kW/kg specific power is attainable for a 100 nm-thick MoS absorber layer. The devices maintain their performance after repetitive bending down to 5 mm bend radius. An increase in performance is measured after radiation exposure to 1 MeV e fluence, which is partially attributed to defect healing. Techno-economic analysis shows that even with a lower efficiency, the specific power of a 2D PV array designed for a 6U CubeSat is 2 orders of magnitude higher, and the cost to deploy in space is 2 orders of magnitude less than that of a Si panel used in space. This indicates that the 2D TMDC-based PV has great potential for space applications.
二维（2D）过渡金属二硫属化物（TMDCs），如MoS和WSe，是光伏（PV）应用的理想候选材料。在此，我们展示了在一种现成的、3μm厚的柔性无色聚酰亚胺上，通过化学气相沉积（CVD）生长的大面积基于MoS的柔性光伏器件的建模、制造和表征，该聚酰亚胺带有为空间结构设计的聚酰亚胺封装。这些器件在1个太阳AM0光照下进行表征，对于亚纳米厚的单MoS单层吸收体，其开路电压为0.180V，比功率为0.001kW/kg。模型预测表明，聚酰亚胺封装引入的吸收损耗可忽略不计，对于100nm厚的MoS吸收层，比功率可达12.97kW/kg。这些器件在反复弯曲至5mm弯曲半径后仍能保持其性能。在暴露于1MeV电子注量的辐射后，性能有所提高，这部分归因于缺陷修复。技术经济分析表明，即使效率较低，为6U立方星设计的二维光伏阵列的比功率也高2个数量级，在太空部署的成本比太空使用的硅面板低2个数量级。这表明基于二维TMDC的光伏在空间应用中具有巨大潜力。
