Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Perovskite Solar Cell Production: Mesoporous n‐i‐p Versus Inverted p‐i‐n Architectures
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) offer a viable alternative to silicon‐based technologies. Assessing their environmental performance is essential for a responsible development. This study compares the life cycle impacts of two PSC architectures, mesoporous n‐i‐p and inverted p‐i‐n, using the life cycle assessment methodology. The functional unit (FU) is a PSC with an active area of 2.88 cm2. The life cycle inventory uses primary production data complemented with literature, the EcoInvent v3.9.1 database, and process modeling. Environmental impacts are evaluated using the ReCiPe 2016 method in SimaPro v9.5.0.1. Results indicate that producing mesoporous PSCs has a higher environmental impact than producing inverted PSCs, due to differences in material and energy consumption. Specifically, mesoporous PSCs require about 132 MJ/FU compared to 25 MJ/FU for inverted PSCs, leading to carbon footprints of 14.1 kg CO2 eq./FU and 2.31 kg CO2 eq./FU, respectively. For inverted PSCs, energy consumption dominates the environmental impacts, accounting for around 80% of the total impact, while for mesoporous PSCs, depending on the environmental category, both materials and energy can dominate. Results highlight that energy consumption is critical and could be significantly reduced by using fully renewable electricity and/or minimizing the presence of metal in the back‐contact.
Language: English
Subfield: Environmental Engineering
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,910
Awards: G118249334, Laboratório Associado de Energia, Transportes e Aeronáutica, Study of flexible perovskite solar cells for street furniture, ALICE - Laboratório Associado em Engenharia Química, Laboratório de Engenharia de Processos, Ambiente, Biotecnologia e Energia, Laboratório de Engenharia de Processos, Ambiente, Biotecnologia e Energia, G6206695047, Células solares de perovskita invertidas: uma arquitetura disruptiva permitindo elevada eficiência, elevada estabilidade e elevado custo-benefício
OpenAlex ID: W4408624727