An optimization dust-removing electrode design method aiming at improving dust mitigation efficiency in lunar exploration

The photovoltaic lunar dust removal technology has proved to own potential application for future space exploration. In this new technology, based on the high voltage characteristics of the photoelectric material lanthanum-modified lead zirconate titanate (PLZT), a dust-removing electrode is used to polarize and remove the lunar dust. The influence of the area and the shape of the dust-removing electrode on the dust removal performance is analyzed in this paper. An optimization of dust-removing electrode design method is proposed and comb-shaped electrodes are designed to improve the dust mitigation efficiency of the system. The configuration of the comb-shaped electrode is optimized by theoretical analysis. A series of experiments are performed to reveal the influence of different factors, such as electrode area, electrode shape, light intensity, copper foil thickness, insulation film and geometric parameters of electrode, etc. on the dust removal performance. Research results of this work can serve as guidelines for optimization electrode design to maximize the efficiency of this photovoltaic lunar dust removal system for future lunar exploration.