Rain on Methylammonium Lead Iodide Based Perovskites: Possible Environmental Effects of Perovskite Solar Cells

Hailegnaw, Bekele; Kirmayer, Saar; Edri, Eran; Hodes, Gary; Cahen, David

doi:10.1021/acs.jpclett.5b00504

Cited by 453 publications

(406 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…154,155 Compared with other lead emission sources, such as mining, fossil fuels, and the manufacture of common products (batteries, plumbing, soldering, electronics, and so on), the potential lead pollution from a 1-GW perovskite PV plant is insignificant, even assuming the worst-case leakage scenario during operation. 156 In fact, perovskite PV may actually be able to reduce the amount of Pb contamination in the environment by providing an opportunity to reuse it from other applications. Recently, perovskite PV devices were fabricated using lead sources recycled from used car batteries.…”

Section: Toxicity and Pollutionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pathways toward high-performance perovskite solar cells: review of recent advances in organo-metal halide perovskites for photovoltaic applications

et al. 2016

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, "Pathways toward highperformance perovskite solar cells: review of recent advances in organo-metal halide perovskites for photovoltaic applications," J. Photon. Energy 6(2), 022001 (2016), doi: 10.1117/1.JPE.6.022001. Abstract. Organo-metal halide perovskite-based solar cells have been the focus of intense research over the past five years, and power conversion efficiencies have rapidly been improved from 3.8 to >21%. This article reviews major advances in perovskite solar cells that have contributed to the recent efficiency enhancements, including the evolution of device architecture, the development of material deposition processes, and the advanced device engineering techniques aiming to improve control over morphology, crystallinity, composition, and the interface properties of the perovskite thin films. The challenges and future directions for perovskite solar cell research and development are also discussed.

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Section: Toxicity and Pollutionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pathways toward high-performance perovskite solar cells: review of recent advances in organo-metal halide perovskites for photovoltaic applications

et al. 2016

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“…The perovskite film is supposed to be dissolved into acidic aqueous media. 22 The obtained solutions were then injected into the Shimadzu PIA-1000 ion analyzer equipped with an anion-exchange column (Shim-pack IC-A3(S)) and conductivity detector. Figure 1 shows the ion chromatograms obtained for all three perovskite solutions.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Determination of Chloride Content in Planar CH3NH3PbI3−xClx Solar Cells by Chemical Analysis

Cojocaru¹,

Uchida²,

Jena³

et al. 2015

Chemistry Letters

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Methylammonium lead mixed-halide perovskite (CH 3 NH 3 -PbI 3¹x Cl x ) has been widely used for photovoltaic conversion. Supposedly, the presence of chloride ions in perovskite precursors enhances the coverage, morphology, and stability of the final perovskite film. It also improves carrier diffusion length in the perovskite film. Due to these advantages, the mixed-halide compound has been adopted for use in planar structure perovskite solar cells and it has led to significant enhancement in power conversion efficiency. However, until now, the exact content of chloride in the final product (CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3¹x Cl x ) is under debate and has not been reported yet. In this article, we show the exact amount of chloride ions in the final perovskite film, determined by chemical analysis with ion chromatography.Perovskite solar cells have become a very important topic of research in the last few years. The power conversion efficiency of cells using methylammonium lead iodide perovskite (CH 3 -NH 3 PbI 3 ) as a light-harvesting material for the first time in a liquid-state perovskite-sensitized solar cell was 3.8%.1 However, the fundamental problem in this liquid-state cell was easy dissolution of perovskite into the liquid electrolyte. After two years, the same group reported 0.37% power conversion efficiency for the first time in a solid-state perovskite solar cell using a carbonpolymer conductive composite as the hole transport material. 2 In the following years, use of spiroOMeTAD (2,2¤,7,7¤-tetrakis(N,N-dimethoxyphenylamine)-9,9¤-spirobifluorene) as the hole transport material (HTM) brought about a leap in cell performance and led to continuous and fast progress. 3,4 Recently, a efficiency of 20.1% has been reported. 5Lead iodide perovskite materials can be used either in a mesoscopic or a planar cell structure. 4,6,7 The principal perovskite layer in meso and planar architectures is usually composed of either pure iodide (CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3 ) or mixed-halide (CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3¹x Cl x ) perovskite. 8,9 A precursor solution containing lead iodide (PbI 2 ) or lead chloride (PbCl 2 ) mixed with methylammonium iodide (CH 3 NH 3 I) in N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) is basically used for forming CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3 or CH 3 -NH 3 PbI 3¹x Cl x , respectively. Both types of perovskite absorber layer have shown promising results. CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3¹x Cl x has been often used to fabricate planar architecture devices with high power conversion efficiency (PCE). 7,10 As the exact content of chloride is not yet known, the chemical formula of CH 3 NH 3 -PbI 3¹x Cl x is being typically used to show that a small amount of chloride salts remains in the device. Several possible locations and the role of chloride ions have been discussed in different studies. According to Snaith et al.,8 chloride ions help in the formation of high quality perovskite films by controlling nucleation and growth of perovskite crystals during the annealing process. Excess of methylammonium and chloride are believed to be evaporated during perovskite film formation and a n...

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“…The full leakage of the lead contained in the PSC layer (less than one gram per square meter) will only cause an increase in lead concentrations in the ground below to around 70 ppm. According to Hailegnaw et al [53], these concentrations 'cannot be considered even close to disastrous' compared to the concentration of 30 ppm in natural uncontaminated soil and 50 to 200 ppm in urban areas. Babayigit et al [54] analysed the toxicity impacts of the heavy metal containing compounds PbI 2 and SnI 2 on zebrafish.…”

Section: Potential Toxicity Induced By Psc Layer Compositionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, Hailegnaw et al [53] determined no catastrophic toxicity impacts even for the total destruction of the solar power plant and the direct exposure of the cell to rain. The full leakage of the lead contained in the PSC layer (less than one gram per square meter) will only cause an increase in lead concentrations in the ground below to around 70 ppm.…”

Section: Potential Toxicity Induced By Psc Layer Compositionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Highly Efficient 3rd Generation Multi-Junction Solar Cells Using Silicon Heterojunction and Perovskite Tandem: Prospective Life Cycle Environmental Impacts

Itten

Stucki

2017

Energies

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Abstract:In this study, the environmental impacts of monolithic silicon heterojunction organometallic perovskite tandem cells (SHJ-PSC) and single junction organometallic perovskite solar cells (PSC) are compared with the impacts of crystalline silicon based solar cells using a prospective life cycle assessment with a time horizon of 2025. This approach provides a result range depending on key parameters like efficiency, wafer thickness, kerf loss, lifetime, and degradation, which are appropriate for the comparison of these different solar cell types with different maturity levels. The life cycle environmental impacts of SHJ-PSC and PSC solar cells are similar or lower compared to conventional crystalline silicon solar cells, given comparable lifetimes, with the exception of mineral and fossil resource depletion. A PSC single-junction cell with 20% efficiency has to exceed a lifetime of 24 years with less than 3% degradation per year in order to be competitive with the crystalline silicon single-junction cells. If the installed PV capacity has to be maximised with only limited surface area available, the SHJ-PSC tandem is preferable to the PSC single-junction because their environmental impacts are similar, but the surface area requirement of SHJ-PSC tandems is only 70% or lower compared to PSC single-junction cells. The SHJ-PSC and PSC cells have to be embedded in proper encapsulation to maximise the stability of the PSC layer as well as handled and disposed of correctly to minimise the potential toxicity impacts of the heavy metals used in the PSC layer.

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Rain on Methylammonium Lead Iodide Based Perovskites: Possible Environmental Effects of Perovskite Solar Cells

Cited by 453 publications

References 15 publications

Pathways toward high-performance perovskite solar cells: review of recent advances in organo-metal halide perovskites for photovoltaic applications

Pathways toward high-performance perovskite solar cells: review of recent advances in organo-metal halide perovskites for photovoltaic applications

Determination of Chloride Content in Planar CH3NH3PbI3−xClx Solar Cells by Chemical Analysis

Highly Efficient 3rd Generation Multi-Junction Solar Cells Using Silicon Heterojunction and Perovskite Tandem: Prospective Life Cycle Environmental Impacts

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