Effects of Cs2AgBiBr6 Perovskite panels covering the in-door green-house on seed germination and chlorophyll content in Solanum lycopersicum L.

The possibility of exploiting the sunlight to generate electricity, while at the same time allowing the healthy growth of plants (also protecting them from the harmful excess of light), is obtained by covering the greenhouses with semi-transparent solar panels. Perovskite-based halide solar cells appear to be the ideal candidate to achieve this goal [1]. Furthermore, lead-free perovskite can even be an environmentally friendly solution. In this work, we report on the preliminary data concerning the influence of the lead-free Cs2AgBiBr6 perovskite, used as active layer for solar cells panels, covering the in-door green-house, on the parameters of germination, development, and chlorophyll content of tomato (Solanum Lycopersicum L.) species. The experiments were carried out "in-door" in a growth chamber with controlled conditions of light and temperature, using mini green-houses covered by transparent glass panels placed on the control green-houses (P-), and semi-transparent panels, constituted by glass covered by indium tin oxide (substrate) and Cs2AgBiBr6 perovskite layers, on the sample (P+). Axenic seeds of tomato were selected for uniform size and shape, sown in 2 glass Petri dishes (20/dish) containing 3MM paper soaked in water and placed inside two different mini green-houses. After five days tomato germinated seeds were 17/20 either for P- or P+ indicating that different light exposure did not influence tomato germination. The first true leaves (10 mg) of each tomato plant were picked up for chlorophyll extraction and analysis. The average of total chlorophylls (a+b) in control (P-) plants was 1.08 (±0.24) mg/g FW compared to 2.04 (±0.39) mg/g FW in (P+) plants. The chlorophyll content of control plants was in the range reported for healthy plants grown in field conditions. The observed increase detected in (P+) plants was likely due to the plant response to the presence of the Perovskite "screen" lowering the light reaching the plants. The evaluation of plant growth in terms of fresh weight will be also correlated with chlorophyll content. These results are encouraging for the development of the agrivoltaic solutions based on the semi-transparent solar panel on the greenhouse roofs.