Energy consumption and carbon footprint of perovskite solar cells
Recently, perovskite solar cells (PSCs) emerged and promise to break the prevailing solar energy paradigm by combining both low-cost and high-efficiency. PSC technology actually shivered the solar photovoltaic (PV) community as a strong candidate to rival the efficiency of traditional PV devices; in...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2022-06-01
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| Series: | Energy Reports |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352484722000452 |
| _version_ | 1818509556732395520 |
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| author | Ana L. Carneiro António A. Martins Vera C.M. Duarte Teresa M. Mata Luísa Andrade |
| author_facet | Ana L. Carneiro António A. Martins Vera C.M. Duarte Teresa M. Mata Luísa Andrade |
| author_sort | Ana L. Carneiro |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Recently, perovskite solar cells (PSCs) emerged and promise to break the prevailing solar energy paradigm by combining both low-cost and high-efficiency. PSC technology actually shivered the solar photovoltaic (PV) community as a strong candidate to rival the efficiency of traditional PV devices; in less than 12 years its efficiency was improved from 3.8% to almost 26%. Despite the tremendous and successful effort for obtaining PSC devices with high power conversion efficiencies, little efforts have been devoted to study fundamental engineering aspects essential for future industrial production. In particular, this work makes an analysis of the energy consumed and the carbon footprint of producing a 3-mesoscopic PSC 8 × 8 cm2 module with an 8.7% efficiency in a life cycle perspective. A “cradle-to-gate” study was performed, using as much as possible primary data. Considering the PSC module as the functional unit the results show that the mesoporous layer deposition is the dominant term concerning the energy consumption. Regarding the carbon footprint, the gold layer, in particular gold, is the main factor. Changing the electricity source to renewable photovoltaic energy reduces significantly the carbon footprint. The results stress the need to replace gold, and use less severe operational conditions in the module production. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-10T22:47:02Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a051d0deaa2d4938a6402f9033ea2bd9 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2352-4847 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-10T22:47:02Z |
| publishDate | 2022-06-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Energy Reports |
| spelling | doaj.art-a051d0deaa2d4938a6402f9033ea2bd92022-12-22T01:30:33ZengElsevierEnergy Reports2352-48472022-06-018475481Energy consumption and carbon footprint of perovskite solar cellsAna L. Carneiro0António A. Martins1Vera C.M. Duarte2Teresa M. Mata3Luísa Andrade4LEPABE-Laboratory for Process Engineering, Environment, Biotechnology and Energy, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto (FEUP), R. Dr. Roberto Frias S/N, 4200-465 Porto, PortugalLEPABE-Laboratory for Process Engineering, Environment, Biotechnology and Energy, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto (FEUP), R. Dr. Roberto Frias S/N, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal; Corresponding author.LEPABE-Laboratory for Process Engineering, Environment, Biotechnology and Energy, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto (FEUP), R. Dr. Roberto Frias S/N, 4200-465 Porto, PortugalINEGI, Institute of Science and Innovation in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, R. Dr. Roberto Frias, 400, 4200-465 Porto, PortugalLEPABE-Laboratory for Process Engineering, Environment, Biotechnology and Energy, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto (FEUP), R. Dr. Roberto Frias S/N, 4200-465 Porto, PortugalRecently, perovskite solar cells (PSCs) emerged and promise to break the prevailing solar energy paradigm by combining both low-cost and high-efficiency. PSC technology actually shivered the solar photovoltaic (PV) community as a strong candidate to rival the efficiency of traditional PV devices; in less than 12 years its efficiency was improved from 3.8% to almost 26%. Despite the tremendous and successful effort for obtaining PSC devices with high power conversion efficiencies, little efforts have been devoted to study fundamental engineering aspects essential for future industrial production. In particular, this work makes an analysis of the energy consumed and the carbon footprint of producing a 3-mesoscopic PSC 8 × 8 cm2 module with an 8.7% efficiency in a life cycle perspective. A “cradle-to-gate” study was performed, using as much as possible primary data. Considering the PSC module as the functional unit the results show that the mesoporous layer deposition is the dominant term concerning the energy consumption. Regarding the carbon footprint, the gold layer, in particular gold, is the main factor. Changing the electricity source to renewable photovoltaic energy reduces significantly the carbon footprint. The results stress the need to replace gold, and use less severe operational conditions in the module production.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352484722000452Life Cycle AssessmentPerovskite solar cellEnergy consumptionCarbon footprint |
| spellingShingle | Ana L. Carneiro António A. Martins Vera C.M. Duarte Teresa M. Mata Luísa Andrade Energy consumption and carbon footprint of perovskite solar cells Energy Reports Life Cycle Assessment Perovskite solar cell Energy consumption Carbon footprint |
| title | Energy consumption and carbon footprint of perovskite solar cells |
| title_full | Energy consumption and carbon footprint of perovskite solar cells |
| title_fullStr | Energy consumption and carbon footprint of perovskite solar cells |
| title_full_unstemmed | Energy consumption and carbon footprint of perovskite solar cells |
| title_short | Energy consumption and carbon footprint of perovskite solar cells |
| title_sort | energy consumption and carbon footprint of perovskite solar cells |
| topic | Life Cycle Assessment Perovskite solar cell Energy consumption Carbon footprint |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352484722000452 |
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