H2020 Cabriss Public Business Plan

Hoffmann, Marie-Charlotte; Suitner, Harald; Thomas, Robert R.

doi:10.5281/zenodo.998558

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…Silicon-based photovoltaic modules are predominantly made of glass, aluminum (Al), polymers, and silicon (Si), as well as metallic contacts such as silver (Ag) or potentially hazardous materials such as lead (Pb) . The presence of precious materials such as copper (Cu), Ag, and particularly solar grade Si, however, could turn this potential recycling crisis into an opportunity. − If done right, there could be significant energy savings by recovering silicon from the modules, as solar-grade silicon is extremely energy-intensive due to its ultrahigh purity. It is noteworthy that the most energy-intensive step in the production of silicon modules is the Siemens process, which converts SiHCl 3 to ultrapure silicon.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recovery of Nano-Structured Silicon from End-of-Life Photovoltaic Wafers with Value-Added Applications in Lithium-Ion Battery

Eshraghi

Berardo

Schrijnemakers

et al. 2020

ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng.

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Millions of residential and industrial solar panels installed in the late 1980s and early 1990s are approaching the end of their life, resulting in the drastic accumulation of a potential source of environmental pollutiongiven the presence of hazardous materials, such as lead. The foreseen crisis, however, can be turned into a great opportunity by value-added recovery of precious solar-grade silicon (Si) to the highly desired nanostructured silicon for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Herein, we demonstrate a potential end-of-life management option for photovoltaic (PV) panels, representing a step toward producing greener and more energy-efficient Si for batteries. We show that leaching the recovered silicon wafers in critically tuned alkali-acid leaching baths effectively removes the major impurities: lead (Pb), silver (Ag), and aluminum (Al). The ultrapure Si is then nanosized via industrially scalable milling routes to meet the requirements of expansion-tolerant Si anodes for LIBs delivering capacities as high as 1400 mAh g −1 .

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