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Design for end of life: how circularity can offer a different path for solar energy

With the rising success of solar photovoltaics, long-term sustainability needs to be addressed. We provide practical steps that researchers, journals and the wider community can take to embed circularity into emerging photovoltaics, from the conception of a new idea, to lab scale demonstrations, to scale-up.

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Correspondence to Matthew L. Davies or Petra J. Cameron.

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Related links

16 myths about solar energy: https://interactive.carbonbrief.org/factcheck/solar/index.html

Safe and sustainable by design framework: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reco/2022/2510/oj

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Davies, M.L., Cameron, P.J. Design for end of life: how circularity can offer a different path for solar energy. Nat Rev Methods Primers 6, 9 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43586-025-00460-5

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