Environmental Impact Assessment of Hole Conductor Layer Free and Flexible Organo Lead Iodide Perovskite Solar Cell

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have shown a significant increment in power conversion efficiency recently with advantages such as flexibility and low-cost roll-to-roll production. Prior to the commercialization of PSCs, it is significant to investigate its environmental performance with life cycle assessment method. In this work, cradle to gate LCA of solution-based organo-lead iodide perovskite solar cell performed according to the one reported literature method that comprises flexible Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate and hole transport layer (HTL) elimination. Environmental impacts from the generation of 1 m2 of cell area production are determined in six International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD) categories. It is found that the major impact comes from the fabrication of the aluminum metal electrode layer due to the high electrical energy required in the vacuum deposition process. The life cycle global warming potential (GWP) that the most widely used environmental indicator has been calculated for per kWh electricity production to make a comparison with commercial photovoltaic technologies. It is found that the HTL-free flexible (HFF) PSC needs 15-20 years of device lifetime to reach competitive GWP value with commercial PVs. 

Environmental Impact Assessment of Hole Conductor Layer Free and Flexible Organo Lead Iodide Perovskite Solar Cell

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have shown a significant increment in power conversion efficiency recently with advantages such as flexibility and low-cost roll-to-roll production. Prior to the commercialization of PSCs, it is significant to investigate its environmental performance with life cycle assessment method. In this work, cradle to gate LCA of solution-based organo-lead iodide perovskite solar cell performed according to the one reported literature method that comprises flexible Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate and hole transport layer (HTL) elimination. Environmental impacts from the generation of 1 m2 of cell area production are determined in six International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD) categories. It is found that the major impact comes from the fabrication of the aluminum metal electrode layer due to the high electrical energy required in the vacuum deposition process. The life cycle global warming potential (GWP) that the most widely used environmental indicator has been calculated for per kWh electricity production to make a comparison with commercial photovoltaic technologies. It is found that the HTL-free flexible (HFF) PSC needs 15-20 years of device lifetime to reach competitive GWP value with commercial PVs. 

___

  • [1] Celik I., Song Z., Cimaroli A.J., Yan Y., Heben MJ, Apul D., “Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of perovskite PV cells projected from lab to fab”, Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, 156:157-169, (2015).
  • [2] Sarialtin H., Geyer R., Zafer C., “Life cycle assessment of hole transport free planar-mesoscopic perovskite solar cells”, Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy, 12(2): 023502, (2020).
  • [3] Maniarasu S., Korukonda T.B., Manjunath V., Ramasamy E., Ramesh M., Veerappan G., “Recent advancement in metal cathode and hole-conductor-free perovskite solar cells for low-cost and high stability: A route towards commercialization”, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 82, 845-857, (2018).
  • [4] Popoola I.K., Gondal MA, Qahtan TF., “Recent progress in flexible perovskite solar cells: Materials, mechanical tolerance and stability”, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 82: 845–857, (2018).
  • [5] https://www.iso.org/standard/37456.html
  • [6] Zhang Y., Hu X., Chen L., Huang Z., Fu Q., Liu Y. “Flexible, hole transporting layer-free and stable CH3NH3PbI3/PC61BM planar heterojunction perovskite solar cells”, Organic Electronics, 30: 281–288, (2016).
  • [7] Chilvery A., Das S., Guggilla P., Brantley C., Sunda-Meya A., “A perspective on the recent progress in solution-processed methods for highly efficient perovskite solar cells”, Science and Technology of Advanced Materials, 17: 650–658, (2016).
  • [8] http://www.globalsolaratlas.info
  • [9] Espinosa N., Serrano-Luján L., Urbina A., Krebs F.C., “Solution and vapour deposited lead perovskite solar cells: Ecotoxicity from a life cycle assessment perspective.”, Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, 137: 303–310, (2015).
  • [10] Li Y., Meng L., Yang Y., Xu G., Hong Z., Chen Q., “High-efficiency robust perovskite solar cells on ultrathin flexible substrates.”, Nature Communications, 7: 10214, (2016).
  • [11] Thompson A.B., Woods D.W. “Density of amorphous polyethylene terephthalate”, Nature, 176: 78–79, (1955).
  • [12] https:www.sigmaaldrich.com/catalog/product/aldrich/ 793833?lang=en®ion=US
  • [13] Sun Y., Han Y.C., Liu J.G., “Controlling PCBM aggregation in P3HT/PCBM film by a selective solvent vapor annealing.”Chinese Science Bulletin, 58:2767–74, (2013).
  • [14] Ueda M., Imai N., Yoshida S., Yasuda H., Fukuyama T, Ryu I., “Scalable Flow Synthesis of [6,6]-Phenyl-C 61 -butyric Acid Methyl Ester (PCBM) using a Flow Photoreactor with a Sodium Lamp”, European Journal of Organic Chemistry, 2017: 6483–6485, (2017).
  • [15]https://www.osha.gov/chemicaldata/chemResult.html?RecNo=481
  • [16] García-Valverde R., Cherni J.A., Urbina A., “Life cycle analysis of organic photovoltaic technologies”, Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications, 18: 535–538, (2010).
  • [17] Peng J., Lu L., Yang H., “Review on life cycle assessment of energy payback and greenhouse gas emission of solar photovoltaic systems”, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 19: 255–274, (2013).