Emerging Photovoltaic (PV) Materials for a Low Carbon Economy

Ilke Celik, Ramez Hosseinian Ahangharnejhad, Zhaoning Song, Michael Heben and Defne Apul
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Ilke Celik: Sustainability and Renewable Energy Systems Program, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Platteville, Platteville, WI 53818, USA
Ramez Hosseinian Ahangharnejhad: Wright Center for Photovoltaics Innovation and Commercialization, Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Toledo, Toledo, OH 43606, USA
Zhaoning Song: Wright Center for Photovoltaics Innovation and Commercialization, Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Toledo, Toledo, OH 43606, USA
Michael Heben: Wright Center for Photovoltaics Innovation and Commercialization, Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Toledo, Toledo, OH 43606, USA
Defne Apul: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The University of Toledo, Toledo, OH 43606, USA

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 16, 1-10

Abstract: Emerging photovoltaic (PV) technologies have a potential to address the shortcomings of today’s energy market which heavily depends on the use of fossil fuels for electricity generation. We created inventories that offer insights into the environmental impacts and cost of all the materials used in emerging PV technologies, including perovskites, polymers, Cu 2 ZnSnS 4 (CZTS), carbon nanotubes (CNT), and quantum dots. The results show that the CO 2 emissions associated with the absorber layers are much less than the CO 2 emissions associated with the contact and charge selective layers. The CdS (charge selective layer) and ITO (contact layer) have the highest environmental impacts compared to Al 2 O 3 , CuI, CuSCN, MoO 3 , NiO, poly (3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl (P3HT)), phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM), poly polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS), SnO 2 , spiro-OMeTAD, and TiO 2 (charge selective layers) and Al, Ag, Cu, FTO, Mo, ZnO:In, and ZnO/ZnO:Al (contact layers). The cost assessments show that the organic materials, such as polymer absorbers, CNT, P3HT and spiro-OMeTAD, are the most expensive materials. Inorganic materials would be more preferable to lower the cost of solar cells. All the remaining materials have a potential to be used in the commercial PV market. Finally, we analyzed the cost of PV materials based on their material intensity and CO2 emissions, and concluded that the perovskite absorber will be the most eco-efficient material that has the lowest cost and CO 2 emissions.

Keywords: emerging photovoltaic (PV) materials; fossil fuels; carbon energy; solar PV; renewable energy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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