The Sun is a great source of energy, but of course those rays can be damaging as well. Engineers in Korea have now developed a new way to make perovskite solar cells to protect them from the elements without reducing their efficiency.

Perovskite materials are effective at absorbing energy from sunlight, thanks to their crystal structure. They can be modified to absorb more wavelengths of light, making them more efficient. Unfortunately this is also their undoing, making the material more vulnerable to long exposure to heat, moisture, oxygen and light. And that’s a real problem, considering these are made to sit in the Sun all day.

So a team of researchers, from Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Seoul National University and Sejong University set out to modify the material to improve its hardiness.

To do so, the team carefully mixed in molecules made of phenethylammonium and arranged in two-dimensional layers, inside the perovskite. This boosted both the efficiency and durability of solar cells, including ones made with just perovskite and others where perovskite was laid on top of a silicon layer.