Remanufacturing Perovskite Solar Cells and Modules–A Holistic Case Study

While perovskite
photovoltaic (PV) devices are on the verge of
commercialization, promising methods to recycle or remanufacture
fully encapsulated perovskite solar cells (PSCs) and modules are still
missing. Through a detailed life-cycle assessment shown in this work,
we identify that the majority of the greenhouse gas emissions can
be reduced by re-using the glass substrate and parts of the PV cells.
Based on these analytical findings, we develop a novel thermally assisted
mechanochemical approach to remove the encapsulants, the electrode,
and the perovskite absorber, allowing reuse of most of the device
constituents for remanufacturing PSCs, which recovered nearly 90%
of their initial performance. Notably, this is the first experimental
demonstration of remanufacturing PSCs with an encapsulant and an edge-seal,
which are necessary for commercial perovskite solar modules. This
approach distinguishes itself from the “traditional”
recycling methods previously demonstrated in perovskite literature
by allowing direct reuse of bulk materials with high environmental
impact. Thus, such a remanufacturing strategy becomes even more favorable
than recycling, and it allows us to save up to 33% of the module’s
global warming potential. Remarkably, this process most likely can
be universally applied to other PSC architectures, particularly n-i-p-based
architectures that rely on inorganic metal oxide layers deposited
on glass substrates. Finally, we demonstrate that the CO2-footprint of these remanufactured devices can become less than 30
g/kWh, which is the value for state-of-the-art c-Si PV modules, and
can even reach 15 g/kWh assuming a similar lifetime.