By Caitlin Anderson

We have a problem with our current solar cells. They were built with very little thought toward their end-of-life.

Current solar panels tend to last 20-30 years. As those solar panels start to age, we are left with the challenge to think about how to recycle them. When the National Science Foundation (NSF) put out an interdisciplinary challenge for clean energy, researchers Juan Correa-Baena, Naomi Deneke, and Ilke Celik partnered to write a proposal to tackle recycling of perovskite solar cells.

With this three-year, $1 million NSF grant, the researchers are working to open new avenues of research which will hopefully lead to reusable and recyclable materials being used in the manufacturing of solar cells. The researchers believe they will be able to begin to construct a road map that transitions solar technology to a more sustainable energy future.

Correa-Baena is an associate professor and Goizueta Junior Faculty Chair in the School of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) and the School of Chemistry. Deneke is an MSE presidential postdoctoral research fellow, and Celik is assistant professor in the Mechanical and Materials Engineering Department at Portland State University.

Correa-Baena credited the differences in their specialties, from materials chemistry to mechanics to techno- and enviro-economic analysis, as one of the team’s strengths.

Correa-Baena works to develop deposition techniques, including atomic layer deposition and thermal evaporation with an emphasis on interfacial chemistry and structure for multilayered devices. Deneke focuses on developing new methods to understand mechanical properties of materials. Celik’s research is in developing sustainability concepts for infrastructure systems through both computation and experimental approaches.