Toxicity and safety study of Cd-based and Cd-free quantum dots in third-gen PV and scaled-up processing platforms

Quantum dots (QDs) are being incorporated at an accelerated rate into Third-Gen photovoltaic (PV) and scaled-up PV processing platforms for production of high efficiency devices. As a result, studies are needed to examine QD toxicity in workplace environment. Herein, we report on a rapid and sensitive detection methods to examine risk of QD exposure in PV processing. QD-associated toxic elements were detected in slight amounts using gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) probe, followed by photoluminescence and Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectroscopy (ICP-MS) analyses, which indicated the possibility of QD aerosolization during deposition, transferring and testing of the QD film. Cytotoxicity effects of different type QDs were also studied using cell culture viability. The results indicate that QD material and their coating are important factors in producing cytotoxicity effects. It was also demonstrated that CIS QDs have less cytotoxic effects on HeLa and CHSE cells than CdSe QDs, and may be considered non-toxic in comparison.