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ABSTRACT Lead halide perovskites are promising semiconducting materials for solar energy harvesting. However, the presence of heavy-metal lead ions is problematic when considering potential

harmful leakage into the environment from broken cells and also from a public acceptance point of view. Moreover, strict legislation on the use of lead around the world has driven innovation

in the development of strategies for recycling end-of-life products by means of environmentally friendly and cost-effective routes. Lead immobilization is a strategy to transform

water-soluble lead ions into insoluble, nonbioavailable and nontransportable forms over large pH and temperature ranges and to suppress lead leakage if the devices are damaged. An ideal

methodology should ensure sufficient lead-chelating capability without substantially influencing the device performance, production cost and recycling. Here we analyse chemical approaches to

immobilize Pb2+ from perovskite solar cells, such as grain isolation, lead complexation, structure integration and adsorption of leaked lead, based on their feasibility to suppress lead

leakage to a minimal level. We highlight the need for a standard lead-leakage test and related mathematical model to be established for the reliable evaluation of the potential environmental

risk of perovskite optoelectronics. Access through your institution Buy or subscribe This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution ACCESS OPTIONS Access through

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support SIMILAR CONTENT BEING VIEWED BY OTHERS SUSTAINABLE LEAD MANAGEMENT IN HALIDE PEROVSKITE SOLAR CELLS Article 03 August 2020 PREVENTING LEAD LEAKAGE IN PEROVSKITE SOLAR CELLS WITH A

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National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grants funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) of Korea under contract NRF-2021R1A3B1076723 (Research Leader Program), the National Key

& Program of China (grant no. 2020YFA07099003) and the Young Scientist Exchange Program between the Republic of Korea and the People’s Republic of China. AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND

AFFILIATIONS * Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronics (KLOFE) & Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM), Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing, China Hui Zhang * School of Chemical Engineering

and Center for Antibonding Regulated Crystals, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, Republic of Korea Hui Zhang & Nam-Gyu Park * Department of Nano Engineering and Department of Nano Science

and Technology, SKKU Advanced Institute of Nanotechnology (SAINT), Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, Republic of Korea Jin-Wook Lee * SKKU Institute of Energy Science and Technology (SIEST),

Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, Republic of Korea Jin-Wook Lee, Michael Grätzel & Nam-Gyu Park * Department of Chemical, Materials and Production Engineering, University of Naples

Federico II, Naples, Italy Giuseppe Nasti & Antonio Abate * University of Plymouth, Plymouth, UK Richard Handy * Laboratory of Photonics and Interfaces, École Polytechnique Fédérale de

Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland Michael Grätzel Authors * Hui Zhang View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Jin-Wook Lee View author

publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Giuseppe Nasti View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Richard Handy

View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Antonio Abate View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar *

Michael Grätzel View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Nam-Gyu Park View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed 

Google Scholar CONTRIBUTIONS N.-G.P. and H.Z. conceived the idea for the study. H.Z. wrote the first draft. J.-W.L., R.H., A.A. and M.G. contributed to the writing. N.-G.P. edited the

manuscript. All authors commented on the manuscript. H.Z., J.-W.L., A.A. and N.-G.P. contributed to the preparation of the figures. CORRESPONDING AUTHORS Correspondence to Antonio Abate,

Michael Grätzel or Nam-Gyu Park. ETHICS DECLARATIONS COMPETING INTERESTS The authors declare no competing interests. PEER REVIEW PEER REVIEW INFORMATION _Nature_ thanks Chang-Zhi Li, Rosario

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environmentally sustainable perovskite solar cells. _Nature_ 617, 687–695 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-05938-4 Download citation * Received: 11 April 2022 * Accepted: 10 March

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