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Lead immobilization for environmentally sustainable perovskite solar cells

Nature volume 617, pages 687–695 (2023)Cite this article

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Abstract

Lead halide perovskites are promising semiconducting materials for solar energy harvesting. However, the presence of heavy-metal lead ions is problematic when considering potential harmful leakage into the environment from broken cells and also from a public acceptance point of view. Moreover, strict legislation on the use of lead around the world has driven innovation in the development of strategies for recycling end-of-life products by means of environmentally friendly and cost-effective routes. Lead immobilization is a strategy to transform water-soluble lead ions into insoluble, nonbioavailable and nontransportable forms over large pH and temperature ranges and to suppress lead leakage if the devices are damaged. An ideal methodology should ensure sufficient lead-chelating capability without substantially influencing the device performance, production cost and recycling. Here we analyse chemical approaches to immobilize Pb2+ from perovskite solar cells, such as grain isolation, lead complexation, structure integration and adsorption of leaked lead, based on their feasibility to suppress lead leakage to a minimal level. We highlight the need for a standard lead-leakage test and related mathematical model to be established for the reliable evaluation of the potential environmental risk of perovskite optoelectronics.

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Fig. 1: Lead-leakage pathways from PSCs and estimation of their potential environment impact.
Fig. 2: Lead-immobilization methodologies in PSCs.
Fig. 3: Proposed lead-leakage measurements and device structure for lead immobilization.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grants funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) of Korea under contract NRF-2021R1A3B1076723 (Research Leader Program), the National Key & Program of China (grant no. 2020YFA07099003) and the Young Scientist Exchange Program between the Republic of Korea and the People’s Republic of China.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronics (KLOFE) & Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM), Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing, China

    Hui Zhang

  2. School of Chemical Engineering and Center for Antibonding Regulated Crystals, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, Republic of Korea

    Hui Zhang & Nam-Gyu Park

  3. Department of Nano Engineering and Department of Nano Science and Technology, SKKU Advanced Institute of Nanotechnology (SAINT), Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, Republic of Korea

    Jin-Wook Lee

  4. SKKU Institute of Energy Science and Technology (SIEST), Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, Republic of Korea

    Jin-Wook Lee, Michael Grätzel & Nam-Gyu Park

  5. Department of Chemical, Materials and Production Engineering, University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy

    Giuseppe Nasti & Antonio Abate

  6. University of Plymouth, Plymouth, UK

    Richard Handy

  7. Laboratory of Photonics and Interfaces, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Michael Grätzel

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  1. Hui Zhang
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Contributions

N.-G.P. and H.Z. conceived the idea for the study. H.Z. wrote the first draft. J.-W.L., R.H., A.A. and M.G. contributed to the writing. N.-G.P. edited the manuscript. All authors commented on the manuscript. H.Z., J.-W.L., A.A. and N.-G.P. contributed to the preparation of the figures.

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Correspondence to Antonio Abate, Michael Grätzel or Nam-Gyu Park.

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Zhang, H., Lee, JW., Nasti, G. et al. Lead immobilization for environmentally sustainable perovskite solar cells. Nature 617, 687–695 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-05938-4

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