Ecotoxicological assessment of solar cell leachates: Copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) cells show higher activity than organic photovoltaic (OPV) cells

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Autor:innen
Brun, Nadja
Autor:in (Körperschaft)
Publikationsdatum
01.02.2016
Typ der Arbeit
Studiengang
Typ
01A - Beitrag in wissenschaftlicher Zeitschrift
Herausgeber:innen
Herausgeber:in (Körperschaft)
Betreuer:in
Übergeordnetes Werk
Science of the Total Environment
Themenheft
Reihe / Serie
Reihennummer
Jahrgang / Band
543
Ausgabe / Nummer
Seiten / Dauer
703-714
Patentnummer
Verlag / Herausgebende Institution
Elsevier
Verlagsort / Veranstaltungsort
Auflage
Version
Programmiersprache
Abtretungsempfänger:in
Praxispartner:in/Auftraggeber:in
Zusammenfassung
Despite the increasing use of photovoltaics their potential environmental risks are poorly understood. Here, we compared ecotoxicological effects of two thin-film photovoltaics: established copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) and organic photovoltaic (OPV) cells. Leachates were produced by exposing photovoltaics to UV light, physical damage, and exposure to environmentally relevant model waters, representing mesotrophic lake water, acidic rain, and seawater. CIGS cell leachates contained 583 μg L(-1) molybdenum at lake water, whereas at acidic rain and seawater conditions, iron, copper, zinc, molybdenum, cadmium, silver, and tin were present up to 7219 μg L(-1). From OPV, copper (14 μg L(-1)), zinc (87 μg L(-1)) and silver (78 μg L(-1)) leached. Zebrafish embryos were exposed until 120 h post-fertilization to these extracts. CIGS leachates produced under acidic rain, as well as CIGS and OPV leachates produced under seawater conditions resulted in a marked hatching delay and increase in heart edema. Depending on model water and solar cell, transcriptional alterations occurred in genes involved in oxidative stress (cat), hormonal activity (vtg1, ar), metallothionein (mt2), ER stress (bip, chop), and apoptosis (casp9). The effects were dependent on the concentrations of cationic metals in leachates. Addition of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid protected zebrafish embryos from morphological and molecular effects. Our study suggests that metals leaching from damaged CIGS cells, may pose a potential environmental risk.
Schlagwörter
Zebrafish embryo, YES, Risk assessment, Photovoltaic, Gene expression
Fachgebiet (DDC)
Projekt
Veranstaltung
Startdatum der Ausstellung
Enddatum der Ausstellung
Startdatum der Konferenz
Enddatum der Konferenz
Datum der letzten Prüfung
ISBN
ISSN
0048-9697
1879-1026
Sprache
Englisch
Während FHNW Zugehörigkeit erstellt
Ja
Publikationsstatus
Veröffentlicht
Begutachtung
Peer-Review der ganzen Publikation
Open Access-Status
Lizenz
Zitation
BRUN, Nadja, 2016. Ecotoxicological assessment of solar cell leachates: Copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) cells show higher activity than organic photovoltaic (OPV) cells. Science of the Total Environment. 1 Februar 2016. Bd. 543, S. 703–714. DOI 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.11.074. Verfügbar unter: http://hdl.handle.net/11654/24031