Photovoltaic cells made from lunar regolith could one day power cities on the moon. [Image: Master/Getty Images]
When humans return to the moon, they will need electrical power for life support, habitat construction, experiments, transportation and other requirements. But boosting heavy glass-based solar panels from Earth to the lunar surface will be expensive, and solar cells based on thin foil eventually degrade in the harsh ultraviolet rays from the sun.
“The solar cells used in space now are amazing, reaching efficiencies of 30% to even 40%, but that efficiency comes with a price,” says lead author Felix Lang, University of Potsdam, Germany. “They are very expensive and are relatively heavy because they use glass or a thick foil as cover. It’s hard to justify lifting all these cells into space.”
Using simulated moon dust and a bit of halide perovskite, researchers have devised sturdy, efficient photovoltaic cells that could be fabricated on the lunar surface (Device, doi: 10.1016/j.device.2025.100747 ). The resulting solar cells have a power-conversion efficiency of 23% while saving 99% of the Earth‒moon transport weight.
The abundance of lunar regolith
Following in the footsteps of ancient peoples who made glass from sand, it’s logical that astronauts on the moon might do the same with the dust beneath their boots.
Comparison of moon regolith simulant, “moonglass” and a radiation-tolerant lunar solar cell based on perovskite. [Image: Felix Lang, University of Potsdam]
Lunar regolith—the exact name for the “dirt” on the lunar surface—contains different minerals depending upon where on the moon it’s found. The lunar highlands, or “terrae,” have dust with high levels of the mineral anorthosite, which is high in calcium and magnesium. The lunar lowlands, called “maria” or “seas,” have basaltic dust full of iron and magnesium.
Exposure to Earth’s atmosphere has contaminated the actual moon samples brought back to Earth by Apollo astronauts more than half a century ago, so the research team at the University of Potsdam used a lunar regolith simulant composed mainly of silicon dioxide, aluminum oxide and calcium oxide to create the glass for the solar cells. The scientists heated the simulant powder to 1550°C in the laboratory; on the moon, that could be accomplished by a laser or solar concentrator.
Perovskite for power
Once the regolith-based glass was processed, the researchers deposited a coating of perovskite on top of the 2-mm-thick “moonglass.” They did the same on common glass as a control device. The team found that the perovskite coating formed similar grain sizes and spacings on both types of glass. To test the cells, Lang and colleagues subjected the glasses to proton irradiation, showing that coated moonglass retained 99.6% of its efficiency, while the control glass lost much more due to radiation darkening.
“From extracting water for fuel to building houses with lunar bricks, scientists have been finding ways to use moon dust,” says Lang. “Now, we can turn it into solar cells too, possibly providing the energy a future moon city will need.”