Spherical hydroxyapatite nanoparticle scaffolds for reduced lead release from damaged perovskite solar cells

Muhamad Z. Mokhtar; Amal Altujjar; Bing Wang; Qian Chen; Jack Chun-ren Ke; Rongsheng Cai; Nourdine Zibouche; Ben F. Spencer; Janet Jacobs; Andrew G. Thomas; David Hall; Sarah J. Haigh; David J. Lewis; Richard Curry; M. Saiful Islam; Brian R. Saunders

doi:10.1038/s43246-022-00299-3

Spherical hydroxyapatite nanoparticle scaffolds for reduced lead release from damaged perovskite solar cells

Muhamad Z. Mokhtar, Amal Altujjar, Bing Wang, Qian Chen, Jack Chun-ren Ke, Rongsheng Cai, Nourdine Zibouche, Ben F. Spencer, Janet Jacobs, Andrew G. Thomas, David Hall, Sarah J. Haigh, David J. Lewis, Richard Curry, M. Saiful Islam, Brian R. Saunders

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Abstract

Perovskite solar cells continue to attract interest due to their facile preparation and high power conversion efficiencies. However, the highest efficiency perovskite solar cells inevitably contain lead, which raises concerns over contamination of drinking water when a solar module is broken and then flooded. We previously showed that conventional synthetic hydroxyapatite (HAP) nanoparticles could capture some of the lead from broken solar cells, but the amount of lead released was well above the safe drinking water level. Here, we modify the HAP synthesis to prepare new spherical-HAP (s-HAP) nanoparticles with a 60% increase in the Pb absorption capacity. We blend s-HAPs with TiO2 nanoparticles to construct mixed scaffolds and investigate their effect on (FAPbI3)0.97(MAPbBr3)0.03 solar cell performance and lead capture. Replacement of 80% of the TiO2 nanoparticles with s-HAP causes the power conversion efficiency to increase from 18.61% to 20.32% as a result of decreased charge carrier recombination. Lead contamination of water from devices subjected to simulated hail damage followed by flooding is shown to decrease exponentially with increasing s-HAP content. The lead concentration in water after 24 h is below the US safe water drinking limit.

Original language	English
Article number	77
Journal	Communications Materials
Volume	3
Issue number	1
Early online date	19 Oct 2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s43246-022-00299-3
Publication status	Published - 1 Dec 2022

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Surface Characterisation
Spencer, B. (Platform Lead), Nikiel, M. (Technical Specialist), Sheraz, S. (Technical Specialist), Li, K. (Technical Specialist), Dwyer, L. (Technical Specialist), Wall, S. (Technical Specialist), Williams, W. (Technical Specialist), Forrest, A. (Senior Technician), Fong, J. (Senior Technician), Filip, T. (Technician) & Moore, K. (Academic lead)
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Mokhtar, M. Z., Altujjar, A., Wang, B., Chen, Q., Ke, J. C., Cai, R., Zibouche, N., Spencer, B. F., Jacobs, J., Thomas, A. G., Hall, D., Haigh, S. J., Lewis, D. J., Curry, R., Islam, M. S., & Saunders, B. R. (2022). Spherical hydroxyapatite nanoparticle scaffolds for reduced lead release from damaged perovskite solar cells. Communications Materials, 3(1), Article 77. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43246-022-00299-3

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title = "Spherical hydroxyapatite nanoparticle scaffolds for reduced lead release from damaged perovskite solar cells",

abstract = "Perovskite solar cells continue to attract interest due to their facile preparation and high power conversion efficiencies. However, the highest efficiency perovskite solar cells inevitably contain lead, which raises concerns over contamination of drinking water when a solar module is broken and then flooded. We previously showed that conventional synthetic hydroxyapatite (HAP) nanoparticles could capture some of the lead from broken solar cells, but the amount of lead released was well above the safe drinking water level. Here, we modify the HAP synthesis to prepare new spherical-HAP (s-HAP) nanoparticles with a 60% increase in the Pb absorption capacity. We blend s-HAPs with TiO2 nanoparticles to construct mixed scaffolds and investigate their effect on (FAPbI3)0.97(MAPbBr3)0.03 solar cell performance and lead capture. Replacement of 80% of the TiO2 nanoparticles with s-HAP causes the power conversion efficiency to increase from 18.61% to 20.32% as a result of decreased charge carrier recombination. Lead contamination of water from devices subjected to simulated hail damage followed by flooding is shown to decrease exponentially with increasing s-HAP content. The lead concentration in water after 24 h is below the US safe water drinking limit.",

author = "Mokhtar, {Muhamad Z.} and Amal Altujjar and Bing Wang and Qian Chen and Ke, {Jack Chun-ren} and Rongsheng Cai and Nourdine Zibouche and Spencer, {Ben F.} and Janet Jacobs and Thomas, {Andrew G.} and David Hall and Haigh, {Sarah J.} and Lewis, {David J.} and Richard Curry and Islam, {M. Saiful} and Saunders, {Brian R.}",

note = "Funding Information: We would like to thank the EPSRC for funding (EP/R020590/1). This work including TEM access was supported by the Henry Royce Institute for Advanced Materials, funded through EPSRC grants EP/R00661X/1, EP/S019367/1, EP/P025021/1 and EP/P025498/1. S.J.H. acknowledges the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union{\textquoteright}s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant ERC-2016-STG-EvoluTEM-715502). R.C. and S.J.H. would like to thank the UK Catalysis Hub for resources and support provided via the membership of the UK Catalysis Hub Consortium and funded by EPSRC grant: EP/R027129/1. We gratefully acknowledge supercomputer resources via the MCC/Archer HPC consortium (EP/R029431/1). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022, The Author(s).",

year = "2022",

month = dec,

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doi = "10.1038/s43246-022-00299-3",

language = "English",

volume = "3",

journal = "Communications Materials",

issn = "2662-4443",

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Mokhtar, MZ, Altujjar, A, Wang, B, Chen, Q, Ke, JC, Cai, R, Zibouche, N, Spencer, BF, Jacobs, J, Thomas, AG , Hall, D , Haigh, SJ , Lewis, DJ , Curry, R, Islam, MS & Saunders, BR 2022, 'Spherical hydroxyapatite nanoparticle scaffolds for reduced lead release from damaged perovskite solar cells', Communications Materials, vol. 3, no. 1, 77. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43246-022-00299-3

TY - JOUR

T1 - Spherical hydroxyapatite nanoparticle scaffolds for reduced lead release from damaged perovskite solar cells

AU - Mokhtar, Muhamad Z.

AU - Altujjar, Amal

AU - Wang, Bing

AU - Chen, Qian

AU - Ke, Jack Chun-ren

AU - Cai, Rongsheng

AU - Zibouche, Nourdine

AU - Spencer, Ben F.

AU - Jacobs, Janet

AU - Thomas, Andrew G.

AU - Hall, David

AU - Haigh, Sarah J.

AU - Lewis, David J.

AU - Curry, Richard

AU - Islam, M. Saiful

AU - Saunders, Brian R.

N1 - Funding Information: We would like to thank the EPSRC for funding (EP/R020590/1). This work including TEM access was supported by the Henry Royce Institute for Advanced Materials, funded through EPSRC grants EP/R00661X/1, EP/S019367/1, EP/P025021/1 and EP/P025498/1. S.J.H. acknowledges the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant ERC-2016-STG-EvoluTEM-715502). R.C. and S.J.H. would like to thank the UK Catalysis Hub for resources and support provided via the membership of the UK Catalysis Hub Consortium and funded by EPSRC grant: EP/R027129/1. We gratefully acknowledge supercomputer resources via the MCC/Archer HPC consortium (EP/R029431/1). Publisher Copyright: © 2022, The Author(s).

PY - 2022/12/1

Y1 - 2022/12/1

N2 - Perovskite solar cells continue to attract interest due to their facile preparation and high power conversion efficiencies. However, the highest efficiency perovskite solar cells inevitably contain lead, which raises concerns over contamination of drinking water when a solar module is broken and then flooded. We previously showed that conventional synthetic hydroxyapatite (HAP) nanoparticles could capture some of the lead from broken solar cells, but the amount of lead released was well above the safe drinking water level. Here, we modify the HAP synthesis to prepare new spherical-HAP (s-HAP) nanoparticles with a 60% increase in the Pb absorption capacity. We blend s-HAPs with TiO2 nanoparticles to construct mixed scaffolds and investigate their effect on (FAPbI3)0.97(MAPbBr3)0.03 solar cell performance and lead capture. Replacement of 80% of the TiO2 nanoparticles with s-HAP causes the power conversion efficiency to increase from 18.61% to 20.32% as a result of decreased charge carrier recombination. Lead contamination of water from devices subjected to simulated hail damage followed by flooding is shown to decrease exponentially with increasing s-HAP content. The lead concentration in water after 24 h is below the US safe water drinking limit.

AB - Perovskite solar cells continue to attract interest due to their facile preparation and high power conversion efficiencies. However, the highest efficiency perovskite solar cells inevitably contain lead, which raises concerns over contamination of drinking water when a solar module is broken and then flooded. We previously showed that conventional synthetic hydroxyapatite (HAP) nanoparticles could capture some of the lead from broken solar cells, but the amount of lead released was well above the safe drinking water level. Here, we modify the HAP synthesis to prepare new spherical-HAP (s-HAP) nanoparticles with a 60% increase in the Pb absorption capacity. We blend s-HAPs with TiO2 nanoparticles to construct mixed scaffolds and investigate their effect on (FAPbI3)0.97(MAPbBr3)0.03 solar cell performance and lead capture. Replacement of 80% of the TiO2 nanoparticles with s-HAP causes the power conversion efficiency to increase from 18.61% to 20.32% as a result of decreased charge carrier recombination. Lead contamination of water from devices subjected to simulated hail damage followed by flooding is shown to decrease exponentially with increasing s-HAP content. The lead concentration in water after 24 h is below the US safe water drinking limit.

U2 - 10.1038/s43246-022-00299-3

DO - 10.1038/s43246-022-00299-3

M3 - Article

SN - 2662-4443

VL - 3

JO - Communications Materials

JF - Communications Materials

IS - 1

M1 - 77

ER -

Spherical hydroxyapatite nanoparticle scaffolds for reduced lead release from damaged perovskite solar cells

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