SBIR Phase II: Scaling Power-Dense, Radiation-Tolerant Flexible Solar Panels for High-Value Markets

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is a new class of lightweight, flexible solar panels for the rapidly growing space economy. Satellites, spacecraft, and high-altitude platforms are limited by the mass, cost, and manufacturing lead time of today's space solar panels, which rely on expensive, rigid semiconductor wafers. This project develops solar cells based on transition metal dichalcogenides — semiconductors that absorb sunlight in layers hundreds of times thinner than silicon and that are naturally tolerant of the radiation encountered in orbit. Because these cells are made by low-cost coating methods similar to printing, rather than wafer-based processing, they can deliver substantially more power per unit weight at lower cost and shorter lead times, reducing launch costs and enabling more capable satellites. The same technology extends to unmanned aircraft and, as costs fall with scale, to vehicles, buildings, and connected devices. The materials are abundant, and production strengthens domestic solar manufacturing with minimal dependence on critical minerals. This Phase II project seeks to advance solution-processed transition metal dichalcogenide solar cells from laboratory demonstration to a manufacturable, flight-relevant product. Phase I established that every layer of the solar cell can be deposited from solution using scalable methods, and identified the strength of the cell's internal junction as the key remaining barrier to higher efficiency. Phase II will strengthen that junction through controlled doping of the light-absorbing material and its adjacent contact layers, substantially raising independently certified cell efficiency; translate the process from small rigid test devices to large-area flexible mini-modules using manufacturable coating equipment; and validate durability through an independent certification and environmental testing campaign — including radiation exposure, thermal cycling, and humidity testing — aligned with space-industry qualification standards. Successful completion will deliver an independently certified, environmentally tested flexible solar module ready for customer evaluation on spacecraft and other high-value platforms. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.