Life Cycle Assessment of Laboratory Scale CZTS Solar Cells

Oliver Rigby^a, Bethany Willis^a, Prabeesh Punathil^a, Michael Jones^a, Yongtao Qu^a, Lewis Jones^b, Elliot Woolley^b, Vincent Barrioz^a, Guillaume Zoppi^a, Neil Beattie^a

^aDepartment of Mathematics, Physics and Electrical Engineering, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 8ST, U.K.

^bWolfson School of Mechanical, Electrical and Manufacturing Engineering, Loughborough University, Loughborough, LE11 3TU, UK

Materials for Sustainable Development Conference (MATSUS)
Proceedings of MATSUS Spring 2025 Conference (MATSUSSpring25)

Emerging chalcogenide materials for thin film photovoltaic applications - #ChalcoPV

Sevilla, Spain, 2025 March 3rd - 7th

Organizers: Giulia Longo and Lucy Whalley

Oral, Oliver Rigby, presentation 329
DOI: https://doi.org/10.29363/nanoge.matsusspring.2025.329
Publication date: 16th December 2024

With the motivation of absorber layers which contain Earth-abundant, cheap and low-toxicity elements, the material Cu₂ZnSn(S,Se)₄ (CZTSe) has been a popular choice in the inorganic thin-film photovoltaics (PV) research community. After an extended period with no improvements to efficiency, recent records of ~13.8% [1] suggest a possible resurgence in research. Here we explore quantifying the environmental impacts of fabricating a CZTSe solar cell at the laboratory-scale using a mix of vacuum techniques (sputtering, electron beam evaporation, tube furnace annealing) and non-vacuum techniques (CZTS nanocrystal synthesis, slot-die coating, chemical bath deposition) with a structure of glass/Mo/CZTSe/CdS/i-ZnO/ITO/Ag,Ni. The intention is to determine which processes or layers are the most significant on the overall environmental impact of the fabrication and hence which may inhibit future scale-up. A life cycle assessment (LCA) is conducted which includes the materials used, electricity consumed as well as the waste produced. Previously we have used LCA to show how to reduce environmental impacts during the synthesis of CZTS nanocrystals [2]. We now extend the LCA analysis to the whole device. The selenization step (where selenium substitutes for sulfur), whilst essential for improved device performance, contributes significantly to the overall environmental impacts of cell fabrication. This results in the impacts from the solution-processed absorber layer to be similar to the vacuum-deposited transparent conducting oxide (TCO) layer due to the necessity of a high temperature, low pressure anneal. This work is hence a timely contribution to discussions surrounding the environmental impacts of vacuum versus non-vacuum deposition. In future work, a functional unit of 1 kWh is chosen such that device performance is included. This will allow for comparison to other research-scale solar cells with absorber layers such as Sb₂(S,Se)₃ and BaZrS₃.

References:

[1] Zhou, J.; Xu, X.; Wu, H.; Wang, J.; Lou, L.; Yin, K.; Gong, Y.; Shi, J.; Luo, Y.; Li, D.; Xin, H.; Meng, Q. Control of the phase evolution of kesterite by tuning of the selenium partial pressure for solar cells with 13.8% certified efficiency. Nat Energy, 2023, 8, 526–535

[2] Jones, M.; Willis, B.; Campbell, S.; Kartopu, G.; Maiello, P.; Punathil, P.; Cheung, W.; Woolley, E.; Jones, L.; Oklobia, O.; Holland, A.; Barrioz, V.; Zoppi, G.; Beattie, N.; Qu, Y. Ecodesign of Kesterite Nanoparticles for Thin Film Photovoltaics at Laboratory Scale. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 2024, 12 (31), 11613-11627

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