Comparison of Perovskite Solar Cells with other Photovoltaics Technologies from the Point of View of Life Cycle Assessment

Abstract

Earth receives from the sun %432 EJ in 1 h, out of which 18 EJ per hour are reflected off from the surface and lost into space. [1] Despite the fact that this amount of energy is available to be converted to usable energy by photovoltaics (PVs), nowadays, this power technology is just converting about 4 EJ per year. [2] Converting all this incident energy would suppose nearly 158 000 EJ per year, which greatly exceeds the 585 EJ of primary energy (PE) consumed in 2017. [3] This fact makes solar power technologies converting directly incident sunlight into usable electrical energy, hence, PVs, powerful candidates to ease the environmental issues derived from the present system of energy production. However, the potential of PV to provide electricity to our societies in a postcarbon energy system is limited by a Shockley-Queisser limit of about 33%, [4] together with land and sources availability.There are several PV technologies, each with a different degree of maturity. Crystalline Si PVs represent the most deployed type with 95% of the market share, 75% in monocrystalline silicon (Mono-Si), with a growing share, and 20% for multicrystalline silicon (Multi-Si), with a continuously declining share. [5] Mono-Si and Multi-Si present moderately high operating efficiencies between 20% and 22%, a deep industrial implementation constructed in parallel with the development of the electronic industry and low toxicity. [6] Another key advantage of this technology in a large production scenario is that it can be entirely produced with relatively abundant materials. [7] The only argument against crystalline Si as the ideal PV material is the chemistries required for purification, reduction, and crystallization of pure silicon from sand, which are highly energy

Synthesis and Thermal, Photophysical, Electrochemical Properties of 3,3-di[3-Arylcarbazol-9-ylmethyl]oxetane Derivatives

“…3-Iodo-9H-carbazole (2) was firstly prepared from commercially available 9H-carbazole (1) by using Tucker's iodination procedure [14]. 3,3-Di(3-iodo-9-carbazolylmethyl)oxetane (3) was then synthesized as a key starting material by the reaction of 3,3-di(chloromethyl)oxetane with an excess of 3-iodo-9H-carbazole (2) in the presence of phase transfer catalyst (TBAHS) under basic conditions. Finally, the objec-tive derivatives (4-6) were prepared by Suzuki reaction of the key starting diiodo-material 3 with an excess of 4-(diphenylamino)phenylboronic acid, 9-ethyl-9H-carbazole-3-boronic acid pinacol ester or naphthalene-1-boronic acid, correspondingly.…”

“…PSCs can be made with a low-temperature screen-printing process that is not only less energy-intensive but also less expensive. Moreover, it is believed that PSCs have lower carbon footprints and shorter energy payback periods than silicon [ 2 ]. Tremendous research efforts, which are devoted to the creation of high-power conversion efficiency PSCs, are highly related to the improved properties of newly developed hole transporting materials (HTM) [ 3 ].…”

Hybrid Organic–Inorganic Perovskite Halide Materials for Photovoltaics towards Their Commercialization

“…After a decade of development, a high PCE value of 29.3% [4] has been achieved by perovskite PVs, and this value is similar to the theoretical limit value for silicon PVs. Other advantages offered by perovskite PVs include its capability in absorbing the visible spectrum, simplicity and cost-effective production (about $2.5/cell) [5,6].…”

Lithium-Based Upconversion Nanoparticles for High Performance Perovskite Solar Cells

“…Among the renewable energies, solar energy is still the most abundant, environmentally friendly energy form to ensure the world's continued prosperity. Crystalline silicon-based photovoltaic (PV) cells are the most used solar cells to convert sunlight into electricity, providing clean energy for many interesting applications with moderately high operating efficiencies between 20% and 22% [3][4][5]. The Si-based PVs are a mature, highly optimized technology with little margin for enhancing their efficiency.…”

“…The Si-based PVs are a mature, highly optimized technology with little margin for enhancing their efficiency. However, purification, reduction, and crystallization of pure silicon from sand require sophisticated industrial processing, which is highly energy demanding and causes undesirable pollution to the environment [4,6]. In addition, there are much more efficient solar cells, for example, gallium arsenide (GaAs)-based solar cells, but they are quite expensive and suffer degradation [7].…”