Characterization of stability of benchmark organic photovoltaic films after proton and electron bombardments

Organic solar cells have attractive potential for space applications as they have very high specific power (power generated per weight) and ultra-high flexibility (to reduce stowed volume). However, one critical issue is whether they are stable under the harsh space environment, particularly their stability under high energy, high flux, electron and proton bombardment. In this paper, the stability of benchmark organic photovoltaic layers under proton bombardment (150 keV with a fluence of 1 × 1012/cm2) and electron bombardment (1 MeV with a fluence of 1 × 1013/cm2) under vacuum is investigated. Raman spectroscopy, photoluminescence spectroscopy, and optical reflectance spectroscopy are applied to study their chemical/structural, photo-chemical/morphological, and optical stability after the bombardments. The results show that all the benchmark organic photovoltaic films are stable under the radiation, implying that organic solar cells could be feasible for space applications