Rapid Sequestration of Perovskite Solar Cell-derived Lead in Soil
Felix Schmidt a b, Andreas Schäffer b, Henry Snaith c, Markus Lenz a d
a Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz (FHNW) - University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern, CH, Switzerland
b RWTH Aachen University - Germany, Aaachen, Germany
c Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Clarendon Laboratory, Parks Road, United Kingdom
d Wageningen University - NL, Netherlands
International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics
Proceedings of 13th Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics (HOPV21)
Online, Spain, 2021 May 24th - 28th
Organizers: Marina Freitag, Feng Gao and Sam Stranks
Oral, Felix Schmidt, presentation 092
Publication date: 11th May 2021

Efficient and stable perovskite solar cells rely on the use of water-soluble Pb2+ species potentially challenging the technologies’ commercialisation. In this study, the environmental fate of perovskite-based Pb2+ species is evaluated in soil-water microcosm experiments, simulating worst-case leaching from the solar cells under various biogeochemical conditions. The rapid and efficient removal of Pb2+ from the aqueous phase is demonstrated by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Sequential soil extraction results reveal that a substantial amount of Pb2+ is naturally immobilised, while a minor proportion of Pb2+ may become available again in the long term, when oxygen is depleted. X-ray absorption spectroscopy results reveal that the sorption of Pb2+ on mineral phases (such as birnessite-type MnO2) represents the most likely sequestration mechanism. The obtained results suggest that the availability of leached Pb2+ from perovskite solar cells is naturally limited in soils and that its adverse effects on soil biota are probably negligible in oxic soils.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 framework program for research and innovation under grant agreement no 763977 of the PerTPV project.

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