Solar photovoltaic technology is being revamped daily with new materials and techniques that make harvesting energy from the sun cheaper and more efficient than ever. A research team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, led by Angela M. Belcher and Paul T. Hammond, has recently developed solar cells made out of organolead halid perovskite that can convert sunlight at a 19.3% efficiency rate , making this material competitive with conventional silicon cells.
So what’s so special about these new cells?
Organolead halid perovskite cells require lead, a potent neurotoxin that can reach human populations when mined from raw ore, an energy intensive extraction process which releases toxic vapor and dust into the environment. Here’s the innovative idea: To avoid mining virgin lead to manufacture these solar cells, the MIT research team has proposed recycling the lead found in old, discarded car batteries. With over 1 billion cars on the road today, lead batteries provide a large, untapped resource for perovskite panel production.
Although most car batteries containing lead are recycled today, new batteries made of safer lithium ion will soon replace these older models. “Once the battery technology evolves, over 200 million lead-acid batteries will potentially be retired in the United States, and that could cause a lot of environmental issues,” Belcher says. Handling over 300 million pounds of lead annually, the automobile industry is the primary source of lead pollution in North America and faces a serious hazardous waste disposal problem.
The MIT researchers explain that the process of giving these batteries a second life is relatively simple. The lead from the battery is mixed with various acids and the resulting solutions are laid out on a thin flexible film to create the solar cell. (See detailed video here). The lead is then safely enclosed within the panel to prevent any leaks or contamination. From a single battery, enough perovskite cells could be produced to power 30 American homes. Even as the panels wear down over time, the perovskite can be continually reused in new panels with the same efficiency and without additional environmental contamination.
The benefits of perovskite solar panels are two-fold: these cells harness clean, renewable energy and provide a waste management solution for a toxic material. The perovskite panel rivals current silicon models in efficiency, cost, and energy input and “the sheer simplicity of the approach bodes well for its commercial implementation,” Hammond says . A company called Oxford Photovoltaics has already expressed interest in producing these recycled solar cells to be used on windows and other building faces. By tackling the issues of waste and energy simultaneously, this new technology could be a breakthrough in creating a cleaner, healthier environment.
Culled from mosaic blog
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