TURNING OLD CAR BATTERIES INTO NEW SOLAR PANELS

Old car batteries could make cheaper, more efficient solar panels

Rachel Feltman, August 18, 2014 (Washington Post)

“Lead-acid car batteries have the potential to cause a whole host of environmental issues, but… researchers have worked on solar cells that use a compound called perovskite. The cells have quickly achieved over 19 percent efficiency in converting sunlight to usable electricity, which is comparable to commonly used silicon-based cells…[But lead] is destructive to plants and animals, and it can build up gradually in both the body and the environment…[T]hese solar cells can be built efficiently using recycled lead. Instead of adding more lead to the environment, this process would actually prevent lead in defunct car batteries from entering landfills…[and the lead] could be recycled from one solar cell to another in much the same way that car batteries continue to use it from generation to generation…Because the solar cells only need thin sheets of perovskite (about half a micrometer thick), the lead from just one car battery could make enough solar panels to power 30 households…They’re also cheaper and easier to make than silicon-based cells, and could potentially become more efficient…” click here for more

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