Assessing the Environmental Impact of Pnictogen-based Perovskite-Inspired Materials for Indoor Photovoltaics

Rosario Vidal; Noora Lamminen; Ville Holappa; Jaume Adrià Alberola-Borràs; Iván P. Franco; G. Krishnamurthy Grandhi; Paola Vivo

doi:10.1002/aenm.202403981

Assessing the Environmental Impact of Pnictogen-based Perovskite-Inspired Materials for Indoor Photovoltaics

Rosario Vidal^*, Noora Lamminen, Ville Holappa, Jaume Adrià Alberola-Borràs, Iván P. Franco, G. Krishnamurthy Grandhi, Paola Vivo^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

BA6305 Printed materials systems

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review

4 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The development of eco-friendly indoor photovoltaics (IPVs) for Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices is booming. Emerging IPVs, especially those based on lead halide perovskites (LHPs), outperform the industry standard of amorphous hydrogenated silicon (a-Si:H). However, the toxic lead in LHPs drives the search for safer alternatives. Perovskite-inspired materials (PIMs) containing bismuth (Bi) and antimony (Sb) have shown promise, achieving indoor power conversion efficiencies (PCE) approaching 10% despite early research stages. This is promising due to their eco-friendlier light-harvesting layers compared to LHPs. Yet, the environmental footprint of pnictogen-based PIM over their lifecycle remains unassessed. This study conducts a life-cycle assessment (LCA) of the best-performing Sb- and Bi-PIMs, considering PCE, raw material availability, energy consumption, and waste generation. It is find that PCE plays a decisive role in identifying the PIM for IPVs with minimized environmental impact, namely a Bi-Sb alloy. Extended LCA simulations for industrial-scale processing show that the most promising Bi-PIM has a reduced environmental burden compared to a-Si:H. It is also explore challenges and solutions for enhancing Bi-and Sb-PIMs’ sustainability. Overall, this study provides the first evidence of the potential of pnictogen-based PIMs as a sustainable IPV technology, addressing whether lead-free PIMs are truly eco-friendly, thus contributing toward battery-less IoT applications.

Original language	English
Article number	2403981
Journal	Advanced Energy Materials
Volume	15
Issue number	5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.202403981
Publication status	Published - 4 Feb 2025
MoE publication type	A1 Journal article-refereed

Funding

R.V. and N.L. contributed equally to this work. P.V. thanks the Research Council of Finland, Decision No. 347772. G.K.G. thanks Tampere Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), Tampere University, for postdoctoral research funding. N.L. thanks The Emil Aaltonen Foundation for funding. R.V., J.\u2010A. A.\u2010B. and I. P. F. acknowledge financial support from Generalitat Valenciana (Spain) under PROMETEO Program (Q\u2010Solutions project reference CIPROM/2021/078) and the Ministry of Science and Innovation of Spain under Project StepUp TED2021\u2010131600B\u2010C31. The work was part of the Research Council of Finland Flagship Programme, Photonics Research and Innovation (PREIN), Decision No. 346511.

Keywords

environmental impact
indoor photovoltaics
LCA
perovskite-inspired materials
pnictogens

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1002/aenm.202403981Licence: CC BY

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abstract = "The development of eco-friendly indoor photovoltaics (IPVs) for Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices is booming. Emerging IPVs, especially those based on lead halide perovskites (LHPs), outperform the industry standard of amorphous hydrogenated silicon (a-Si:H). However, the toxic lead in LHPs drives the search for safer alternatives. Perovskite-inspired materials (PIMs) containing bismuth (Bi) and antimony (Sb) have shown promise, achieving indoor power conversion efficiencies (PCE) approaching 10% despite early research stages. This is promising due to their eco-friendlier light-harvesting layers compared to LHPs. Yet, the environmental footprint of pnictogen-based PIM over their lifecycle remains unassessed. This study conducts a life-cycle assessment (LCA) of the best-performing Sb- and Bi-PIMs, considering PCE, raw material availability, energy consumption, and waste generation. It is find that PCE plays a decisive role in identifying the PIM for IPVs with minimized environmental impact, namely a Bi-Sb alloy. Extended LCA simulations for industrial-scale processing show that the most promising Bi-PIM has a reduced environmental burden compared to a-Si:H. It is also explore challenges and solutions for enhancing Bi-and Sb-PIMs{\textquoteright} sustainability. Overall, this study provides the first evidence of the potential of pnictogen-based PIMs as a sustainable IPV technology, addressing whether lead-free PIMs are truly eco-friendly, thus contributing toward battery-less IoT applications.",

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Assessing the Environmental Impact of Pnictogen-based Perovskite-Inspired Materials for Indoor Photovoltaics

Abstract

Funding

Keywords

UN SDGs

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