However, most valuable metals in the solar cell, especially silver (1% in c-Si solar cells, which is much larger than 0.0005% in natural silver ore), are theoretically recyclable (Figure 1b). Thus, silver recovery should be operated and added to the solar panel recycling.
From an economic and productivity perspective in the recovery of silver from solar cells, the chemical leaching presents a viable technique. At present, the predominant method for leaching is the utilization of nitric acid, succeeded by precipitation with either NaCl or NaOH or by electrochemical refining.
While the potential for recovering silver from PV modules is significant, the current low collection and recovery rates, coupled with the 20–30% per annum growth rate of the PV industry and 25-year module lifetime, mean that recycled silver from PV modules can contribute only marginally to the silver supply for PV for quite some time.
The authors declare no conflict of interest. Abstract Silver can be recycled from the end-of-life crystalline silicon photovoltaic (PV), yet the recycling and its technology scale-up are still at an early stage especially in continuously oper...
The significance of recovering silver from spent silicon solar cells cannot be overstated, particularly in light of the increasing demand for silver and the strict environmental regulations in place (Gervais et al., 2023). Moreover, the retrieval of raw materials is crucial for multiple reasons.
Cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrodeposition-redox replacement (EDRR) techniques were used to efficiently recover metals from the silicon solar cell waste. The determination of metal concentrations was carried out utilizing ICP-OES analysis, while SEM was employed to examine the physical structure of the deposited metal.