• Miettunen, Kati
• Akulenko, Elena S.
• Esmaeilzadeh, Maryam
• Hadadian, Mahboubeh
• Nizamov, Rustem

Abstract

In the realm of recycling, the predominant emphasis has been generally on retrieving the metals. However, the highest value end product, usually with the least process energy, is realized through the revival of the device. Carbon-based perovskite solar cells (C-PSC) are a promising candidate for reviving the whole device owing to their structure (porosity) that facilitates both the flushing of the degraded perovskite as well as infiltrating new perovskite. Until now, reviving C-PSCs has been proposed by gas treatment, whereas for industrial applications liquid treatment would be preferable. This study focuses on liquid treatment by investigating how various organic solvents impact the technical feasibility of this process. Our findings highlight the key role of the mechanical stability of carbon mesoporous layer in relation to the organic solvents used in reviving. γ-Valerolactone dissolved perovskite in mesoporous layer with none or small carbon peeling off, while N,N-dimethylformamide and dimethyl sulfoxide showed in most cases high peeling off. We demonstrate a 65% revival level for PSCs using γ-Valerolactone. When employing the identical approach to revive samples that were aged under high humidity (70%) and elevated temperature (50 °C), the revival level decreased to 41%. This decline suggests that there is an irreversible degradation. These observations serve as a first step to boost a discussion about reviving C-PSCs with liquid treatment.

Topics

• perovskite
• impedance spectroscopy
• Carbon
• porosity