Sustainable and Circular Management of Perovskite Solar Cells via Green Recycling of Electron Transport Layer-Coated Transparent Conductive Oxide

Abstract

Transparent conductive oxide (TCO)-coated glasses are the most expensive and environmentally impacting components of perovskite solar cells (PSCs), comprising 56% of the total cost of a perovskite module and 96% of its carbon footprint. Thus, recycling TCO glasses from end-of-life perovskite modules can reduce both their levelized cost of electricity and energy payback time. In this work, tin oxide (SnO2)-coated indium tin oxide glasses are refurbished from n-i-p PSCs employing dimethyl sulfoxide as a green solvent to dissolve the upper layers of the devices. Employing the recovered substrates, new-generation PSCs are produced, which retain the same champion power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 22.6% as fresh samples and display an even higher average PCE. This performance enhancement is investigated through compositional and electrical analyses that demonstrate that the proposed recycling protocol induces beneficial surface modifications on the SnO2/perovskite interface and trap passivation, boosting charge extraction.