Publication: Outdoor fate and environmental impact of polymer solar cells through leaching and emission to rainwater and soil
Authors
Espinosa, Nieves ; Zimmermann, Yannick ; Reis Benatto, Gisele dos ; Lenz, Markus ; Krebs, Frederik C.
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Publisher
Royal Society of Chemistry
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DOI
10.1039/c6ee00578k
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info:eu-repo/semantics/article
Description
Open Access Article. Published on 20 April 2016. Downloaded on 2/8/2024 12:15:26 AM. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Licence.
Abstract
The emission of silver and zinc to the aqueous environment (rain,
fog, dew) from polymer solar cells installed outdoors is presented.
Studies included pristine solar cells and solar cells subjected to
mechanical damage under natural weather conditions in Denmark.
We find the emission of silver and zinc to the environment through
precipitated water for damaged solar cells, and also observed
failure and emission from an initially undamaged device in an
experiment that endured for 6 months. In the case of the damaged
cells, we found that the drinking water limits for Ag were only
exceeded on a few single days. We also progressed our studies to
include end-of-life management. To assess the implications of
improper practices (uncontrolled disposal, landfilling) at the endof-life, we buried different OPV types in intact and damaged forms
in soil columns. In the case of high Ag emission (shredded cells), the
potential for migration was confirmed, even though the soil was
found to exhibit sequestration of silver. We conclude that recycling
of Ag at the end-of-life is mandatory from an environmental point
of view.
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Citation
Energy & Environmental Science, 2016, 9, 1674-1680
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