Next Materials (Jan 2025)
Recovery and investigation of ITO coated-glass substrates from laboratory grade discarded perovskite solar cells for their sustainable reuse
Abstract
Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have gained high popularity since their discovery in 2009. With the low-cost solution-based fabrication process, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of PSCs has reached a remarkable 26.1 %. However, the PSC device is unstable and starts degrading as soon as it is exposed to the environment. Lead (Pb) incorporated in PSCs is also a big concern as a toxic heavy metal, it can pose serious health and environmental risks if not managed properly. The transparent conducting oxide (TCO) coated glass is recovered from the discarded perovskite solar cells laboratory waste, collected within CSIR-NPL. The patterned Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) glass substrates were recovered successfully using single solvent recycling treatment by alkali hydroxide. The recycled patterned ITO substrates were analysed using various characterisation techniques and compared with fresh/ ITO. The structural, optical and electrical properties of recycled ITO glass were compared with the fresh substrates, which show the similar results. Further, Transient Absorption Spectroscopy (TAS) using ultrafast lasers was carried out on each pair of perovskite-coated pristine and recycled non-patterned ITO’s surface to probe carrier dynamic at the interfaces between ITO and the perovskite layers. PSC devices were fabricated using recycled ITO shows PCE of 9.64 % as compared to the device on fresh ITO substrate with PCE of 10.21 %. Thus, it is concluded that recycled ITO substrates are of good quality and suitable for reuse in new solar cell fabrication. Additionally, efforts have been made to reduce the toxicity of residual solutions for their safe disposal.
