February 27, 2020: Chinese scientists say they have developed a process which means they can recycle lead batteries without causing secondary pollution and instead use it in a perovskite structure to make cells for solar panels.

The Lead Acetate Produced from Lead-acid Battery for Efficient Perovskite Solar Cells study, published in the March 2020 issue of the journal Nano Energy, was carried out by a group of scientists mainly from Xidian University in Xi’an, Shaanxi Province.

“Fabrication of perovskite solar cells with lead from spent batteries reduces the environmental impact of battery waste and promotes the development of new energy technology,” the paper says.

Perovskite was originally a calcium, titanium oxide mineral with the chemical formula CaTiO₃, according to the portal Perovskite-info. It was discovered in the Ural Mountains of Russia by the German mineralogist Gustav Rose in 1839, and is named after Russian mineralogist Lev Perovski.

But the term ‘perovskite’ can also be used for any compound that has the same generic ABX₃ crystallographic structure, which the scientists at Xidian University have produced with spent lead from batteries.

“Perovskite materials exhibit intriguing and unusual physical properties that have been extensively studied for both practical applications and theoretical modelling, and the materials science and applications of perovskites have been a broad research area open to many revolutionary discoveries for new device concepts,” the portal says.

Lead is one of the most important components of perovskite solar cells, and the scientists say the lead mud recovered from both the anode and the cathode reacted with acetic acid to produce a high purity lead acetate which was used ‘to fabricate normal planar heterojunction perovskite solar cells with a power conversion efficiency reaching 17.83%’.

“CH₃COOH (acetic acid) is beneficial for a compact and crystalline perovskite film and improves the device performance,” the study said.

“Solar cells are currently the most prominent perovskite application, as synthetic perovskites are recognized as potential inexpensive base materials for high-efficiency commercial photovoltaics,” says the portal.

However, it warns that perovskite technology is far from commercially ready and is likely to face several obstacles, including problems with cell durability and stability and the risk of releasing lead into the environment.

Reprinted from:https://www.batteriesinternational.com/2020/02/27/recycled-lead-batteries-to-offer-extra-life-in-solar-panelling/(If there is any infringement liability, please inform us in time, we will delete the content immediately, thank you.)