Hutter Eline M, Sangster Reiny, Testerink Christa, Ehrler Bruno, Gommers Charlotte M M
Center for Nanophotonics, AMOLF, 1098 XG Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Department of Chemistry, Utrecht University, 3584 CB Utrecht, the Netherlands.
iScience. 2021 Dec 9;25(1):103583. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.103583. eCollection 2022 Jan 21.
Highly efficient solar cells containing lead halide perovskites are expected to revolutionize sustainable energy production in the coming years. Perovskites are generally assumed to be toxic because of the lead (Pb), but experimental evidence to support this prediction is scarce. We tested the toxicity of the perovskite MAPbI (MA = CHNH) and several precursors in plants. Both MAPbI and the precursor MAI hamper plant growth at concentrations above 5 μM. Lead-based precursors without iodide are only toxic above 500 μM. Iodine accumulation in correlates with growth inhibition at much lower concentrations than lead. This reveals that perovskite toxicity at low concentrations is caused by iodide ions specifically, instead of lead. We calculate that toxicity thresholds for iodide, but not lead, are likely to be reached in soils upon perovskite leakage. This work stresses the importance to further understand and predict harmful effects of iodide-containing perovskites in the environment.
含有铅卤化物钙钛矿的高效太阳能电池有望在未来几年彻底改变可持续能源生产。由于含有铅（Pb），钙钛矿通常被认为是有毒的，但支持这一预测的实验证据却很少。我们在植物中测试了钙钛矿MAPbI（MA = CHNH）和几种前体的毒性。当浓度高于5μM时，MAPbI和前体MAI都会阻碍植物生长。不含碘化物的铅基前体只有在浓度高于500μM时才有毒。植物中的碘积累与生长抑制相关，其浓度远低于铅。这表明低浓度下钙钛矿的毒性是由碘离子而非铅引起的。我们计算得出，钙钛矿泄漏时，土壤中可能会达到碘而非铅的毒性阈值。这项工作强调了进一步了解和预测含碘钙钛矿对环境有害影响的重要性。
