Thin Film Mechanics
Why Thermal Fatigue Matters
Space environments expose solar cells to some of the most severe temperature fluctuations experienced by electronic materials. During each orbit, spacecraft components repeatedly transition between intense solar irradiation and deep shadow, leading to rapid temperature swings that can exceed −100 °C to +100 °C, depending on the orbit and spacecraft design.
In Low Earth Orbit, satellites typically experience thermal cycling every ~90 minutes as they move in and out of sunlight. Other orbital regimes, such as Geostationary Orbit and deep-space missions, can impose different but equally demanding thermal stresses due to long-duration exposure to solar heating or extended periods of shadow.
These temperature variations generate thermomechanical stress in multilayer devices. Because each material layer has a different coefficient of thermal expansion, repeated cycling leads to strain accumulation. Over time this can cause:
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interfacial delamination
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crack formation along grain boundaries
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mechanical degradation of functional layers
Understanding and mitigating these failure mechanisms is critical for the reliability of thin-film technologies used in space.
From Space to Earth Applications
While space provides a strong motivation, thermal fatigue is also highly relevant for terrestrial energy technologies. Thin-film devices used in outdoor environments experience daily and seasonal temperature fluctuations that can gradually degrade interfaces and encapsulation layers.
Our research therefore focuses on universal failure modes of thin-film interfaces under extreme thermal conditions. By identifying the mechanical limits of materials and interfaces, we aim to develop design strategies that improve device durability across a wide range of applications.
Mechanical Testing and Experimental Platforms
To investigate these phenomena, we have established a universal thin-film mechanics testing platform that enables quantitative measurements of interfacial adhesion and fracture behavior.
Our laboratory performs a range of standardized mechanical tests, including:
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Pull-off adhesion tests
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90° peel tests
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Lap shear tests
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Double cantilever beam (DCB) fracture tests
These methods allow us to extract key mechanical parameters such as adhesion energy, fracture toughness, and interfacial strength across different length scales.
Combined with controlled thermal cycling protocols and materials characterization, these measurements provide fundamental insights into how interfaces fail under extreme conditions—and how they can be engineered to remain stable.
Related Publications
Nature Communications, 2026
EES Solar
Nature Communications 2026
Joule (2025) XXX, XXX (in press)
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 2025, 17, 42, 58501–58511
Nature Materials (2025)
ACS Applied Energy Materials 2025, 8, 18, 13722–13731
Science 2025, Vol. 0 Issue 0 Pages eadx1745
Joule 2025 (in press)
Energy Fuels 2025, 39, 22, 10134–10149
Small Methods 2025, 2401003.
Advanced Energy Materials 2025, 2404617.
ACS Energy Letters 2025, 10, 1, 238–245.
ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering 2024, 12, 48, 17523–17530.
Joule 8.12 (2024): 3412-3425.
Science 385.6708 (2024): adp1621
Joule 8, 2585–2606. (2024)
PRX Energy 3.2 (2024): 023011
ACS Energy Letters 9 (2024): 3501-3504
Advanced Energy Materials 2024, 2400720
Nature Communications 15.1 (2024): 9069
Joule 9.1 (2024).
Advanced Energy Materials 2024, 2403530
Involved Researchers
Erkan Aydin
Short Bio
Dr. Erkan Aydın leads a research group at LMU Munich, focusing on the development of realistic, ultra-efficient photovoltaic technologies for both terrestrial and space applications. His work integrates materials innovation, interfacial engineering, and scalable processing to push the performance and stability limits of perovskite and perovskite-based tandem solar cells toward industrial implementation. Before joining LMU, Dr. Aydın conducted postdoctoral research at KAUST for seven and a half years, where he played a leading role in achieving several record-breaking perovskite–silicon tandem efficiencies and advancing their scalability and reliability. He earned his PhD from TOBB University of Economics and Technology in 2016 through the Micro and Nanotechnology Program. In 2022, Dr. Aydın received the prestigious ERC Starting Grant (INPERSPACE), and in 2025, he was recognized by Clarivate as one of the Highly Cited Researchers in the Cross-Field category—being among only 17 researchers from LMU Munich to receive this distinction.
ORCID | Google Scholar | X | LinkedIn
Contact
Adress: Butenandtstr. 5 - 13
Room E3.029, 81377 München
Phone +49 89 2180-77805
Email: erkan.aydin@cup.uni-muenchen.de
Anna Backeberg
Butenandtstr. 5 - 13
Room E3.005
81377 München
Phone +49 89 2180-77608
Email: anna.backeberg@campus.lmu.de
Photoluminescence studies on FAPbI3-based solar cells (Jointly supervised by Aydin and Laquai Groups)
Formerly F-Praktiukm student, and now intern at Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz
Ali Buyruk
Butenandtstr. 5 - 13
Room E3.005
81377 München
Phone +49 89 2180-77608
Email: ali.buyruk@cup.lmu.de
High-efficieny perovskite-based solar cells with enhanced thermomechanical stability
Formerly a Postdoctoral Researcher in Aydin Group
David Helminger
Butenandtstr. 5 - 13
Room E3.027
81377 München
Phone +49 89 2180-77617
Email: davhepc@cup.uni-muenchen.de
Wide-bandgap perovskite solar cells
Formerly a Visiting Student (Intern) in Aydin Group, and now Continuing to PhD at TUM in the goup of Roland A. Fischer
Rik Hooijer
Butenandtstr. 5 - 13
Room E3.005
81377 München
Phone +49 89 2180-77608
Email: rik.hooijer@cup.uni-muenchen.de
2D/3D heterojunctions for efficient and stable multijunction solar cells
Jian Huang
Butenandtstr. 5 - 13
Room E3.005
81377 München
Phone +49 89 2180-77608
Email: jian.huang@cup.uni-muenchen.de
Ultra-efficient perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells
Pratik Kalvikatte
Butenandtstr. 5 - 13
Room E3.027
81377 München
Phone +49 89 2180-77617
Email: pratik.kalvikatte@cup.uni-muenchen.de
Damage-free sputtering techniques for Ultra-efficient perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells
Sunwoo Kim
Butenandtstr. 5 - 13
Room E3.005
81377 München
Phone +49 89 2180-77608
Email: suuyjk467@knu.ac.kr
All perovskite tandem solar cells - Wide bandgap cells
Shaoke Liu
Butenandtstr. 5 - 13
Room E3.005
81377 München
Phone +49 89 2180-77608
Email: Shaoke.Liu@campus.lmu.de
Improving the homogeneity of self-assembled molecular monolayer contacts for peovskite-based solar cells
Formerly a F-Praktium Student in Aydin Group, and now Continuing to MSc at LMU
Tara Makoei
Butenandtstr. 5 - 13
Room E3.005
81377 München
Phone +49 89 2180-77608
Email: T.Bagherbeik@campus.lmu.de
Investigation of Thermal Stress Resilience in Perovskite Solar Cells
Now Tara continues at LMU Munich as student
Àlvar Martin Pelacho
Butenandtstr. 5 - 13
Room E3.005
81377 München
Phone +49 89 2180-77608
Email: alvar.martin@tum.de
Multiphysics Modeling of Thermal Cycling-Induced Stress and Failure in Solar Cells for Low Earth Orbit Use
Formerly a MSc student in Aydin Group, now a trainee at ACER (Ljubljana, Slovenia)
Skirmantas Musteikis
Butenandtstr. 5 - 13
Room E3.005
81377 München
Phone +49 89 2180-77608
Email: skirmantas.musteikis@ktu.lt
Molecular design of charge transport materials for efficient Pb-Sn perovskite devices
Formerly a Visiting Student via Erasmus+ in Aydin Group, and now Continuing to MSc at Kaunas Uni. of Tech.
Selcen Duran
Butenandtstr. 5 - 13
Room E2.009
81377 München
Phone +49 89 2180-77608
Email: selcenduran@ktu.edu.tr
Prof. Uzun Duran's research focuses on space radiation tests for perovskite-based solar cells.
Brooke Spraggon
Butenandtstr. 5 - 13
Room E3.027
81377 München
Phone +49 89 2180-77617
Email: B.Spraggon1@newcastle.ac.uk
Fundamental understanding of molecular contact coverage on metal oxide surfaces.
Formerly a visiting student in Aydin Group, and now student at Newcastle University in UK
Noah Straughan
Butenandtstr. 5 - 13
Room E3.027
81377 München
Phone +49 89 2180-77617
Email: 2775561S@student.gla.ac.uk
A-site cation engineering of perovskite absorbers for enhanced stability of solar cells
Kun Sun
Butenandtstr. 5 - 13
Room E3.005
81377 München
Phone +49 89 2180-77608
Email: kun.sun@ph.tum.de
In-situ GIWAXS analysis of 2D perovskites for extraterrestial use of solar cells
Formerly a visiting student in Aydin Group, and now postdoctoral researcher at HZB.
Cem Yilmaz
Butenandtstr. 5 - 13
Room E3.005
81377 München
Phone +49 89 2180-77608
Email: cem.yilmaz@cup.uni-muenchen.de
Thermomechanical analysis of multijunction solar cells
Boya Zhang
Butenandtstr. 5 - 13
Room E3.027
81377 München
Phone +49 89 2180-77617
Email: Boya.Zhang@campus.lmu.de
Stable and reproducible passivating contacts.
Hao Zhu
Butenandtstr. 5 - 13
Room E3.005
81377 München
Phone: +49 89 2180-77608
Email: hao.zhu@cup.uni-muenchen.de
Ultra-efficient all-perovskite tandem solar cells
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