The rapid growth of photovoltaic technologies is leading to an increasing accumulation of end-of-life photovoltaic modules, highlighting the need to develop recycling strategies for these technologies before their wide adoption. This is particularly important for perovskite photovoltaics, because they contain lead. Now, writing in Nature, Fengqi You, Feng Gao and collaborators introduce a recycling strategy for perovskite photovoltaics based on green solvents, achieving high recycling efficiency and purity while mitigating environmental impacts.

Beyond the perovskite layer, this holistic recycling approach also addresses the other valuable components in perovskite solar modules. Green solvents are used to recover the hole-transport material, spiro-OMeTAD, obtaining excellent purity and performance with a high recycling efficiency. The gold electrodes and indium tin oxide glasses are also successfully recycled.