Severe reprotoxicity of organometallic photovoltaic perovskites on Caenorhabditis elegans assessed by high-content in vivo microfluidics.

As new industrial materials emerge, rapid high-content approaches are needed to identify potential health hazards before large-scale deployment. Here, we use an in vivo microfluidic platform to evaluate the toxicity of two benchmark photovoltaic perovskites, CH3NH3PbI3 and CH3NH3SnI3, in Caenorhabditis elegans, a widely used model in soil toxicology. Under physiological S-medium, both materials rapidly formed polydisperse particles. Toxicity was strongly size-dependent: small-particle fractions induced clear, dose-responsive effects on viability, growth, and reproduction-with reproductive endpoints the most sensitive-whereas larger particles (>200 nm), approaching or exceeding the oral opening of C. elegans, produced minimal effects under continuous perfusion. These results show that ingestion or internalization is required for the observed adverse outcomes, implying that the particle-size threshold for hazard will vary across species with distinct anatomical constraints. Overall, this study provides quantitative benchmarks (including NOAELs) relevant for environmental risk assessment and design-for-safety, and highlights the need to account for bioavailable particle-size fractions-not only bulk chemical composition-when evaluating the real-world impacts of high-performance perovskites.