Mechanically Robust Irradiation, Atomic Oxygen, and Static-Durable CrOx/CuNi Coatings on Kapton Serving as Space Station Solar Cell Arrays

• DOI: 10.1021/acsami.2c03123
• Publication Date: 2022-04-27T11:53:22Z
• Authors: Yifan Zhang; Qian Li; Heng Yuan; Weiqing Yan; Shunian Chen; Menglin Qiu; Bin Liao; Lin Chen; Xiao Ouyang; Xu Zhang; Minju Ying
• Keywords: Kapton

The polymers that served for solar cell arrays are constantly subject to various hazards, such as atomic oxygen (AO), ion irradiation, or electrostatic discharge (ESD) events. To address these issues, we fabricated and sifted CrO0.16/CuNi-coated Kapton with a gradient structure the goal of reaching an equilibrium between AO durability resistance. resulting material exhibits impressively low Ey 6.61 × 10-26 cm3 atom-1, 2.20% which was detected pristine Kapton. Self-evolution CrO0.16 coating under 525.4 displacement per atom (dpa) Fe+ irradiation indicated it can still maintain good state ultrafine nanocrystalline in addition local amorphization. Its AO-based degradation evolution demonstrated by molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. It is mechanically robust enough endure cyclic folding treatments attributed its fabrication. Moreover, alleviated accumulation capability sufficient conductivity. Our strategy has promising potential creating surface protection on flexible operating Earth orbit (LEO).