Performance of chemically modified reduced graphene oxide (CMrGO) in electrodynamic dust shield (EDS) applications

TL;DR

This study evaluates chemically modified reduced graphene oxide in electrodynamic dust shields, demonstrating its effectiveness in lunar dust removal under vacuum and UV conditions, with improvements from device capping.

Contribution

It introduces a spray-coated nanocomposite EDS system using CMrGO and analyzes its performance and durability under lunar-like conditions.

Findings

Bare devices remove dust efficiently at moderate voltages.

UV illumination reduces voltage needed for dust removal in 2-phase devices.

Capping with LDPE prevents device degradation but requires higher voltages for dust removal.

Abstract

Electrodynamic Dust Shield (EDS) technology is a dust mitigation strategy that is commonly studied for applications such as photovoltaics or thermal radiators where soiling of the surfaces can reduce performance. The goal of the current work was to test the performance of a patterned nanocomposite EDS system produced through spray-coating and melt infiltration of chemically modified reduced graphene oxide (CMrGO) traces with thermoplastic high-density polyethylene (HDPE). The EDS performance was tested for a dusting of lunar regolith simulant under high vacuum conditions (~10-6 Torr) using both 2-phase and 3-phase configurations. Uncapped (bare) devices showed efficient dust removal at moderate voltages (1000 V) for both 2-phase and 3-phase designs, but the performance of the devices degraded after several sequential tests due to erosion of the traces caused by electric discharges. Further tests carried out while illuminating the dust surface with a UV excimer lamp showed that the EDS voltage needed to reach the maximum cleanliness was reduced by almost 50% for the 2-phase devices (500 V minimum for rough and 1000 V for smooth), while the 3-phase devices were unaffected by the application of UV. Capping the CMrGO traces with low-density polyethylene (LDPE) eliminated breakdown of the materials and device degradation, but larger voltages (3000 V) coupled with UV illumination were required to remove the grains from the capped devices.