Emerging photovoltaics (PV), including organic PV (OPV), perovskite PV (PPV), and quantum dots PV (QDPV), have attracted significant interest for aerospace applications due to their high specific power (power-to-weight ratio), high mechanical flexibility, and low cost. For example, OPV, PPV, and QDPV exhibit specific powers of 39.3, 50, and 15.2 W/g, respectively, which are significantly higher than those of traditional PV. [1-3] High-altitude pseudo-satellites (HAPS) operating in the lower stratosphere (∼20–25 km) could be the first to deploy these emerging PV technologies. This region exposes photovoltaic systems to AM0 solar irradiance, and the environmental conditions include low-temperature cycles (+10 → –20 °C during the day and to –85 °C at night), and low ambient pressures that differ significantly from terrestrial conditions.[4] These environmental stresses can critically impact emerging PV, yet direct comparative studies across material classes are scarce. In this work, we investigate the low-temperature performance and thermal cycling stability of these three promising PV technologies under conditions mimicking HAPS environments.

For OPV, two state-of-the-art active-layer material systems have been studied and revealing acceptor-dependent performance differences at reduced temperatures. In contrast, for QDPV, different hole-transport layer configurations were studied here, showing that PbS-MPA devices maintained or slightly improved power conversion efficiency (PCE) even in an HAPS environment and down to −100 °C, and exhibited excellent thermal cycling stability, suggesting robustness under repeated stratospheric day–night cycles. Furthermore, Perovskite devices with both narrow, wide-bandgap compositions and tandem were evaluated on rigid and flexible substrates, demonstrating high PCEs under HAPS environment for tandem PV.

Interesting: the QDPV retains 100% of its initial PCE even at -100 °C, whereas the PPV and OPV retain ~80% and ~50% of their initial PCE, respectively, under similar conditions. Furthermore, the QDPV and PPV showed excellent thermal cycling stability over the range of +20 to -85 °C, with 15 cycles.

Our comparative study highlights material-dependent responses to stratospheric stresses, identifies design pathways for improved environmental resilience, and provides important initial data for the selection for next-generation lightweight power systems deployed in HAPS and related aerospace applications.