Enriching Scattered Metals from Waste Cu(InGa)Se₂ Solar Cells through Friction Separation Technology by Microsolid Media

Abstract

A large number of flexible Cu(InGa)Se 2 solar cells have been scrapped in recent years, and direct scrapping will cause environmental pollution and resource waste. Therefore, it is necessary to treat waste solar cells. However, there is currently no mature recycling technology available. This experiment developed a green, efficient, and economical technology based on the microsolid media frictional separation to enrich scattered metals that are difficult to extract from flexible Cu(InGa)Se 2 solar cells. The results indicate that the microsolid media undergo different forces during the acceleration process, and the impact velocity increases with the airflow velocity. In addition to yielding in the impact core area, adjacent areas will also yield. This method can effectively enrich scattered metals. The content of indium, gallium, and selenium increased from 0.332, 0.250, 0.959 to 13.620%, 10.164 and 46.027%, increased by 41.02, 40.66, and 47.50 times, with recoveries of 99.083, 98.194, and 97.080%, respectively. This technology can significantly reduce the difficulty of extracting scattered metals from waste flexible Cu(InGa)Se 2 solar cells and has significant implications for the environment and sustainable development. This may be the first study to use physical methods to enrich scattered metals from flexible Cu(InGa)Se 2 solar cells.