On-Device Lead Detention for Perovskite Solar Cells
As the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have reached above 25.5%, the commercialization of PSCs appears to be imminent due to its lower fabrication cost, simpler manufacturing processes, and larger processing area over Si-based solar cells that dominate the current photovoltaic (PV) market. While many efforts have focused on tackling the stability and scalability issues with promising advances, the potential lead (Pb) toxicity issue has remained a concern of PSCs. Unlike the metallic Pb, the Pb 2+ in perovskite generally exhibit high solubility in water. However, Pb 2+ has so far appeared to be a necessary component in all high-efficiency PSCs. Handful methods have been explored to mitigate the potential Pb2+ leaking issue, which can be generally categorized as physical encapsulation and our pioneering chemical absorption method, which was extended by others later. Since device damage is inevitable in outdoor conditions, physical encapsulation alone is not sufficient to mitigate the long-term risk of leakage of soluble Pb 2+ to the environment under severe weather conditions. As a result, the chemical absorption approach has recently attracted significant attention as a more effective solution to confine the potential lead leakage. Hence, it is of great value to develop durable and highly efficient Pb-absorbing components that can be conveniently mounted onto the standard PSC stack as an add-on accessory in line with the encapsulation of PSCs instead of modifying the standard device fabrication and/or device configuration.