Eco-design suggestions for innovative, lab-scaled perovskite solar cells

The continuous growth of solar photovoltaics demands the introduction of innovative technologies with low carbon footprint, raw material consumption and environmental impacts. In this context, the eco-design of solar photovoltaics is essential to minimize their life cycle environmental impacts while maintaining the ideal usage of the technologies. The study applies life cycle assessment to suggest the eco-design of innovative, lab-scaled perovskite solar cells, with a scenario analysis on their lifetime and conversion efficiency. The assessment indicates that the climate change impact ranges from 0.58 to 6.18 kg CO 2 eq, the fossil resource use is from 7.38 to 7.92 MJ, and the mineral and metal resource use is 1.53 g Sb eq per kWh. The eco-design of perovskite solar cells should focus on materials for electrode, while the scenario analysis points out that its efficiency should reach 25%, with the lifetime of 15 years for competing with the silicon-based counterparts.