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Reducing lead toxicity of perovskite solar cells with a built-in supramolecular complex

Nature Sustainability volume 6, pages 1455–1464 (2023)Cite this article

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Abstract

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) as an emerging renewable energy technology are expected to play an important role in the transition to a sustainable future. However, lead toxicity of PSCs remains a major flaw hindering their large-scale implementation and compromising their sustainability, as lead is currently inevitable in making high-performance PSCs. Here we show that this can be addressed by embedding a cross-linking supramolecular complex composed of 2-hydroxypropyl β-cyclodextrin (HPβCD) and 1,2,3,4-butane tetracarboxylic acid (BTCA). The built-in HPβCD-BTCA complex can largely inhibit lead leakage from severely damaged PSCs, which retain 97% of the initial efficiency after 522 h dynamic water scouring, with only <14 ppb lead contamination in water. Toxicity evaluation implies that the chelation between HPβCD-BTCA complex and lead-bearing perovskites can also reduce the toxicity of lead-bearing PSCs to the comparable or even lower level than their lead-free counterparts. Moreover, the HPβCD-BTCA incorporation simultaneously improves the stability and reproducibility of PSCs. The proposed strategy paves a new avenue for sustainable PSCs and can move PSCs closer to commercial implementation.

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Fig. 1: Chemical structures of HPβCD and BTCA molecules and their roles in stabilizing perovskite precursors.
Fig. 2: Chemical interaction between perovskite and HPβCD-BTCA and their beneficial roles in modulating perovskite crystallization.
Fig. 3: Photoelectric properties of PSCs fabricated with or without HPβCD-BTCA modification.
Fig. 4: Lead sequestration in broken PSCs and lead toxicity evaluation in perovskite films with or without HPβCD-BTCA incorporation.
Fig. 5: Schematic illustration of Pb recycling and management in PSCs.

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The data that support the findings of this study are available within the Article and its Supplementary Information files and from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. Source data are provided with this paper.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge financial support from the National Key R&D Program of China (grant number 2019YFB1503200), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 22005355 to W.-Q. W.), Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (grant number 2022A1515010282 to W.-Q.W.) and State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing (Wuhan University of Technology).

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  1. These authors contributed equally: Meifang Yang, Tian Tian.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. MOE Key Laboratory of Bioinorganic and Synthetic Chemistry, Lehn Institute of Functional Materials, School of Chemistry, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China

    Meifang Yang, Tian Tian, Yuxuan Fang, Wen-Guang Li, Gengling Liu, Wenhuai Feng & Wu-Qiang Wu

  2. Department of Environmental and Resource Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark

    Mingyi Xu

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  1. Meifang Yang
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Contributions

W.-Q.W. supervised this work. W.-Q.W. conceived the idea and designed the experiments. M.Y. and T.T. investigated the cross-linking mechanism and fabricated the thin films and devices. M.Y. carried out the characterization of materials and the Pb leakage test. M.Y., Y.F. and G.L. performed the XRD, XPS and transient absorption study. W.-G.L. and M.Y. conducted the spectral corrections, temperature-dependent PL and TRPL measurements. Y.F. and W.F. performed the thick-film devices fabrication and measurement. M.Y., M.X., T.T. and Y.F. investigated the biocompatibility of the HPβCD-BTCA-modified perovskite films and the Pb toxicity. W.-Q.W. and M.Y. wrote the first draft of the manuscript, and all authors discussed the results and reviewed the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Wu-Qiang Wu.

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Nature Sustainability thanks Tao Xu and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Figs. 1–45, Discussion and Table 1.

Reporting Summary

Supplementary Video 1

Broken PSCs under dynamic water scouring.

Supplementary Video 2

J–V testing of broken PSCs under dynamic water scouring.

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Yang, M., Tian, T., Fang, Y. et al. Reducing lead toxicity of perovskite solar cells with a built-in supramolecular complex. Nat Sustain 6, 1455–1464 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-023-01181-x

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