Prospective Environmental Impact Assessment of Scaling Up Perovskite/Silicon Tandem Solar Cells to Industrial Applications

Perovskite–silicon tandem solar cells (TSC) are considered a promising technology. However, their transitions from lab prototypes to industrial scale pose environmental concerns. This study presents a prospective life cycle assessment (LCA) of four potential designs of perovskite–silicon tandem cells (TSC 1, TSC 2, TSC 3, TSC 4). By modeling future-oriented scenarios, we analyze and present results for four LCA metrics: global warming potential (GWP), cumulative energy demand (CED), energy payback time (EPBT), and carbon payback time (CO2PBT). Results show that the carbon footprint and energy consumption of tandem solar devices are expected to decrease over time, indicating that they will demonstrate better environmental performance compared to single-junction silicon devices. Among the tandem designs analyzed, TSC 3 exhibits the lowest environmental impact per m2; however, TSC 4 shows superior environmental performance per kWh for all assessed impact categories. The analysis highlights that although material selection is crucial, optimizing the overall device architecture to enhance efficiency is equally important in achieving tandem devices with a low environmental footprint. Key recommendations for optimizing the tandem architecture include reducing the silicon wafer thickness in future tandem designs, the use of thinner indium-based transparent conductive oxide, and prioritizing recycling and re-use of the critical materials.