Towards more sustainable photovoltaics: Reducing environmental impact at the laboratory scale

As renewable energy technologies are scaled up to meet Net Zero, it is important to minimise their environmental impact and for new technologies, this begins at the laboratory scale. This work details the chemical synthesis of Cu₂ZnSnS₄ (CZTS) nanoparticles for thin film photovoltaics at two different laboratory-scale batch volumes. Life cycle assessment (LCA) of the fabrication process demonstrates significant reductions across 16 environmental impact categories when the scale of the process experiences a fivefold increase. Some environmental impacts can be reduced by up to 61.3%, including a reduction in global warming potential by 13.8%. A detailed discussion of the assumptions associated with solvents used in this process and their recycling is included in a sensitivity analysis. Finally, the impact from electricity consumption is compared to that of a renewable electricity mix where results show that the benefits from scaling up are more significant.