Life cycle assessment of perovskite solar cells with alternative carbon electrode

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs), a promising third-generation photovoltaic technology, have drawn considerable attention. Yet, their conventional metal back electrode layer, often composed of gold or silver, presents environmental and stability challenges. In this study, we conducted a lab-scale optimization of perovskite solar cells utilizing gold and carbon electrodes. A cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment (LCA) was performed using primary data from Thailand's National Nanotechnology Center (NANOTEC) and the Sima Pro 9.3.0.2 software with the ReCiPe 2016 impact methodology, consisting of 18 midpoint and three endpoint impact categories. Our analysis reveals that transitioning from gold electrodes (PSC-Au) to carbon electrodes (PSC-CB) fabricated through a lowtemperature process not only maintains equivalent power conversion efficiency but also enhances stability, resulting in significantly reduced environmental impacts across all categories, with an impressive 86% reduction in global warming potential (GWP) per 1 kWh of energy produced. Furthermore, sensitivity analysis underscores PSC-CB's superiority in GWP compared to other established renewable energy technologies, provided its operational lifespan extends to 15 years. These findings highlight PSC-CB's substantial potential for commercialization as a sustainable renewable energy technology.