Life cycle assessment of perovskite solar cells with alternative carbon electrode.

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs), a promising third-generation photovoltaic technology, have drawn considerable attention. Yet, their conventional metal back electrode layer, often composed of gold or silver, presents environmental and stability challenges. In this study, we conducted a lab-scale optimization of perovskite solar cells utilizing gold and carbon electrodes. A cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment (LCA) was performed using primary data from Thailand's National Nanotechnology Center (NANOTEC) and the Sima Pro 9.3.0.2 software with the ReCiPe 2016 impact methodology, consisting of 18 midpoint and three endpoint impact categories. Our analysis reveals that transitioning from gold electrodes (PSC-Au) to carbon electrodes (PSC-CB) fabricated through a low-temperature process not only maintains equivalent power conversion efficiency but also enhances stability, resulting in significantly reduced environmental impacts across all categories, with an impressive 86% reduction in global warming potential (GWP) per 1 kWh of energy produced. Furthermore, sensitivity analysis underscores PSC-CB's superiority in GWP compared to other established renewable energy technologies, provided its operational lifespan extends to 15 years. These findings highlight PSC-CB's substantial potential for commercialization as a sustainable renewable energy technology. • Cradle-to-Gate LCA for the same architecture and performance of PSCs between the Gold electrode and Carbon electrode • Thermal evaporation and gold material loss in the process were indicated as hotspot and commercialization barriers • Carbon electrodes cut environmental impact by over 79% or an average of 93.9% across all categories versus gold electrodes • PSCs with carbon electrodes surpass other renewables in global warming impact when a device lifespan exceeding 15 years [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]