Lead acetate produced from lead-acid battery for efficient perovskite solar cells

Lead-acid batteries contain significant amount of lead that is an important material for emerging perovskite solar cells. Here, we successfully recovered lead from lead-acid battery. Anode and cathode lead mud reacted with acetic acid (CH3COOH), and the produced high purity lead acetate (Pb(Ac)2) was tested with FTIR and XRD. The simple synthetic path is efficient and causes no secondary pollution. Furthermore, the recovered lead acetate was used to fabricate normal planar heterojunction perovskite solar cells (PerSCs) with a power conversation efficiency reaching 17.83%. In addition to lead acetate, CH3COOH was also found in the product of cathode mud. CH3COOH is beneficial for a compact and crystalline perovskite film and improves the device performance. Fabrication of perovskite solar cells with lead from spent batteries reduces the environmental impact of battery waste and promotes the development of new energy technology. [Display omitted] •We developed a simple approach to synthesize without secondary pollution lead acetate (Pb(Ac)2) from lead-acid batteries.•Pb(Ac)2 derived from spend batteries was used to fabricate solar cells with a power conversion efficiency reaching 17.83%.•CH3COOH was found to result in perovskite films with larger crystals and less holes and improve performance of solar cells.