Life Cycle Assessment of Coated-Glass Recovery from Perovskite Solar Cells

Gonzalo Rodriguez-Garcia; Erkan Aydin; Stefaan De Wolf; Brett Carlson; Jon Kellar; Ilke Celik

doi:10.1021/acssuschemeng.1c05029

Life Cycle Assessment of Coated-Glass Recovery from Perovskite Solar Cells

Gonzalo Rodriguez-Garcia, Erkan Aydin, Stefaan De Wolf, Brett Carlson, Jon Kellar, Ilke Celik

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

5 Scopus citations

Abstract

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are emerging photovoltaic devices with great potential to become a terawatt-scale technology. To develop sustainable end-of-life strategies for PSCs, we performed a life cycle assessment on 13 PSC recycling techniques, focusing on the recovery of coated glass. We found that the ecotoxicity due to the consumption of materials is the major contributor to the environmental impact. All but one of the techniques generated more environmental impacts than the production of virgin coated glass. We also found that material reuse and recovery are the key to sustainable coated glass recycling. We can decrease the impact of these techniques between 56 and 68% by recovering the solvent, and further reductions are possible reusing solvents. Techniques with a thermal or a physical process would need to lower their electricity and material use in addition to solvent reuse and recovery to become an environmentally sustainable reality.

Original language	English (US)
Journal	ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.1c05029
State	Published - Nov 3 2021

Bibliographical note

KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2021-11-05
Acknowledged KAUST grant number(s): IED OSR-2019-4208, OSR-2018-CARF/CCF-3079, IED OSR-2020-4208
Acknowledgements: We thank Rosario Vidal from the Universitat Jaume I (Castelló, Spain) for her assistance with the nitrogen drying process. This work is funded by the StartUp funding of the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. E.A. and S.D.W. thank the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) for the financial support via Office of Sponsored Research (OSR) under award no. KAUST OSR-2018-CARF/CCF-3079, IED OSR-2019-4208, and IED OSR-2020-4208.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
Environmental Chemistry
Chemical Engineering(all)
Chemistry(all)

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1021/acssuschemeng.1c05029

Cite this

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title = "Life Cycle Assessment of Coated-Glass Recovery from Perovskite Solar Cells",

abstract = "Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are emerging photovoltaic devices with great potential to become a terawatt-scale technology. To develop sustainable end-of-life strategies for PSCs, we performed a life cycle assessment on 13 PSC recycling techniques, focusing on the recovery of coated glass. We found that the ecotoxicity due to the consumption of materials is the major contributor to the environmental impact. All but one of the techniques generated more environmental impacts than the production of virgin coated glass. We also found that material reuse and recovery are the key to sustainable coated glass recycling. We can decrease the impact of these techniques between 56 and 68% by recovering the solvent, and further reductions are possible reusing solvents. Techniques with a thermal or a physical process would need to lower their electricity and material use in addition to solvent reuse and recovery to become an environmentally sustainable reality.",

author = "Gonzalo Rodriguez-Garcia and Erkan Aydin and {De Wolf}, Stefaan and Brett Carlson and Jon Kellar and Ilke Celik",

note = "KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2021-11-05 Acknowledged KAUST grant number(s): IED OSR-2019-4208, OSR-2018-CARF/CCF-3079, IED OSR-2020-4208 Acknowledgements: We thank Rosario Vidal from the Universitat Jaume I (Castell{\'o}, Spain) for her assistance with the nitrogen drying process. This work is funded by the StartUp funding of the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. E.A. and S.D.W. thank the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) for the financial support via Office of Sponsored Research (OSR) under award no. KAUST OSR-2018-CARF/CCF-3079, IED OSR-2019-4208, and IED OSR-2020-4208.",

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doi = "10.1021/acssuschemeng.1c05029",

language = "English (US)",

journal = "ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering",

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publisher = "American Chemical Society",

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T1 - Life Cycle Assessment of Coated-Glass Recovery from Perovskite Solar Cells

AU - Rodriguez-Garcia, Gonzalo

AU - Aydin, Erkan

AU - De Wolf, Stefaan

AU - Carlson, Brett

AU - Kellar, Jon

AU - Celik, Ilke

N1 - KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2021-11-05 Acknowledged KAUST grant number(s): IED OSR-2019-4208, OSR-2018-CARF/CCF-3079, IED OSR-2020-4208 Acknowledgements: We thank Rosario Vidal from the Universitat Jaume I (Castelló, Spain) for her assistance with the nitrogen drying process. This work is funded by the StartUp funding of the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. E.A. and S.D.W. thank the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) for the financial support via Office of Sponsored Research (OSR) under award no. KAUST OSR-2018-CARF/CCF-3079, IED OSR-2019-4208, and IED OSR-2020-4208.

PY - 2021/11/3

Y1 - 2021/11/3

N2 - Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are emerging photovoltaic devices with great potential to become a terawatt-scale technology. To develop sustainable end-of-life strategies for PSCs, we performed a life cycle assessment on 13 PSC recycling techniques, focusing on the recovery of coated glass. We found that the ecotoxicity due to the consumption of materials is the major contributor to the environmental impact. All but one of the techniques generated more environmental impacts than the production of virgin coated glass. We also found that material reuse and recovery are the key to sustainable coated glass recycling. We can decrease the impact of these techniques between 56 and 68% by recovering the solvent, and further reductions are possible reusing solvents. Techniques with a thermal or a physical process would need to lower their electricity and material use in addition to solvent reuse and recovery to become an environmentally sustainable reality.

AB - Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are emerging photovoltaic devices with great potential to become a terawatt-scale technology. To develop sustainable end-of-life strategies for PSCs, we performed a life cycle assessment on 13 PSC recycling techniques, focusing on the recovery of coated glass. We found that the ecotoxicity due to the consumption of materials is the major contributor to the environmental impact. All but one of the techniques generated more environmental impacts than the production of virgin coated glass. We also found that material reuse and recovery are the key to sustainable coated glass recycling. We can decrease the impact of these techniques between 56 and 68% by recovering the solvent, and further reductions are possible reusing solvents. Techniques with a thermal or a physical process would need to lower their electricity and material use in addition to solvent reuse and recovery to become an environmentally sustainable reality.

UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10754/673121

UR - https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acssuschemeng.1c05029

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M3 - Article

SN - 2168-0485

JO - ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering

JF - ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering

ER -

Life Cycle Assessment of Coated-Glass Recovery from Perovskite Solar Cells

Abstract

Bibliographical note

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

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