Thor Balkhed / LiUWater and low-cost additives dissolve glass, electrodes, and perovskite layersThor Balkhed / LiU
Modern solar cells are made of silicon and still generate waste, but those of the next technological generation, made of a different mineral called perovskite, could be fully recyclable. Researchers at Linköping University (LiU), Sweden, have developed a method to repeatedly recycle all parts of a perovskite solar cell. Instead of the commonly used and environmentally harmful substance dimethylformamide, they used water as the main solvent, to which they added three low-cost additives: sodium acetate, sodium iodide, and hypophosphorous acid. After being recycled multiple times in the lab, the devices offered similar efficiency and stability as new panels. “We can recycle everything—covering glasses, electrodes, perovskite layers, and also the charge transport layer,” said Xun Xiao, one of the authors of the resulting article, in an LiU statement. The next step recommended by the scientists to restore perovskite cells, which have a shorter lifespan than silicon cells, is to adapt the method to large-scale use in an industrial process (Nature, February 12).
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