A novel acid-free combined technology to achieve the full recovery of crystalline silicon photovoltaic waste

To achieve the global carbon neutrality commitment, photovoltaics, a clean and renewable source of energy, is increasingly deployed. Photovoltaic panels are core components of photovoltaic systems. As these panels reach the end of their life, recovering the photovoltaic waste becomes crucial. Currently, strong acid reagents are commonly used in the recovery of silver from crystalline silicon photovoltaic waste, posing environmental risks and restricting the industrialization of their recycling. In this study, a novel acid-free technology to achieve the full recovery of crystalline silicon photovoltaic waste was proposed. A pyrolysis process was first conducted for decapsulation, with carbon dioxide being the main gas component at 60.64 %. Next, bioleaching technology was employed to leach silver from waste crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells. The silver leaching rate in a single leaching cycle reached 44.7 %. Meanwhile, the mechanism of silver leaching was further analyzed. Finally, high-velocity fluid frictional separation, a technique that uses high-speed fluid flow to separate material, was chosen to obtain silicon wafers. The reclaimed silicon samples had a total thickness variation of 6.64 µm to11.62 µm, with average carrier lifetimes exceeding 4.9 µs, higher than that obtained by wet etching. This study is expected to advance the industrialization of the recovery of photovoltaic waste, which is also beneficial for the sustainable development of the photovoltaic supply chain.