Integrating Life Cycle Assessment and Techno-Economic Considerations for Sustainable Perovskite Photovoltaics: A Digital Decision-Support Framework

Abstract

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) represent a promising alternative to conventional crystalline silicon photovoltaics (Si PV), but their commercialization requires simultaneous consideration of environmental performance, operational lifetime, end-of-life (EoL) management, and technology-development priorities. This study develops an integrated life-cycle and decision-support assessment of PSC and Si PV systems. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) models were developed in openLCA on a functional basis of 1 m2 of PV system, considering production, use, and EoL stages and applying ReCiPe 2016 Endpoint (H) and CML-IA Baseline. The environmental results were further integrated into a multi-criteria decision-support framework using cost-criterion normalization, Simple Additive Weighting, and scenario-based sensitivity analysis. Literature-derived techno-economic parameters provided contextual information rather than a harmonized quantitative techno-economic assessment; the Decision-Support Scores (DSS) were based exclusively on environmental indicators. In the area-based assessment, PSC exhibited substantially lower climate-related impacts than Si PV, with reductions of 57.04% for global warming–human health (ReCiPe) and 57.35% for GWP100a (CML-IA), together with 48.53–53.41% lower fossil-resource-related impacts. However, pronounced trade-offs were identified, including higher stratospheric ozone depletion (+132.50%), mineral resource scarcity (+22.06%), land use (+754.03%), photochemical oxidation (+5747.52%), and terrestrial ecotoxicity (+731.95%). Under equal weighting in the area-based assessment, Si PV achieved higher DSS for both ReCiPe (78.88 vs. 67.33) and CML-IA (67.05 vs. 62.75). The area-based sensitivity analysis showed stable ordering under all ReCiPe scenarios, whereas the CML-IA ordering reversed under climate- and resource-priority scenarios. A parallel electricity-based assessment reduced the PSC climate-related advantages to approximately 18% and yielded higher DSS values for Si PV under all scenarios and both LCIA methods. Although PSCs offer important opportunities associated with lower-energy manufacturing, their sustainable commercialization depends on extending operational lifetime, reducing material- and toxicity-related hotspots, implementing scalable and resource-efficient manufacturing, and developing effective recycling and material-recovery systems. The proposed framework demonstrates how LCA combined with multi-criteria decision support can provide a transparent basis for evaluating environmental trade-offs and guiding the sustainable development of emerging photovoltaic technologies.