Researchers in Germany have tried to identify the characteristics that can define the “ideal recyclable solar cell” and have discovered that the recycling of PV devices is usually in contrast to the efforts of achieving high efficiency.
Researchers from the German research institute Jülich have investigated the characteristics of the ideal recyclable solar cell must and have concluded that recycling conflicts with traditional criteria such as efficiency, stability and costs.
“The basic idea behind this work was to investigate how the basic design of a solar cell would change if recycling was considered,” said the main author of the research, Ian Marius Peters, said PV -Magazine. “When looking for a good material to make a solar cell, the determining parameters are absorbtivity, loading career lifetime and mobility. As we continue in the direction of mass-produced modules, other parameters are relevant to generating electricity at low costs. The field is being expanded further in absorbing sustainability.”
“Finding the ideal recyclable solar cell now becomes an optimization problem for all these parameters,” he said. “The challenge is that some of them have opposite requirements. For example, I would like to have a very stable module, but at the same time I would have one in which components are easy to separate. The paper still identifies a number of more contradictory requirements. The art of designing the ideal recyclable solar cell then becomes good compromises for these confrontational requirements.”
In the study “The ideal recyclable solar cell“Published in Nature reviews Chemistry, Peters and his colleagues explained that the recycling of a solar cell is “rooted” in chemistry and physics, with three important parameters that define the binding of his component layers: intralayer binding strength, which refers to the internal cohesion of the materials used; intermediate binding, which defines the cohesion between the cell layers; And the binding contrast between adjacent layers, which is crucial for selective low-low separation.
Another important factor is what the scientists described as locked entropy, which defines the degree of structural and composition mixing that has been created by the manufacturing processes. “Although it is not thermodynamically rigorous, it reflects how processes such as diffusion or alloy materials, increasing the energy and complexity of separation at the end of the lives of the photovoltaic,” they explained further.
The research group emphasized that all these parameters are somehow “interdependent” and that inherent considerations between them were inevitable, with the complication of factoring in those elements that influence efficient recycling.
“An example is the consideration between binding contrast and the lifespan of the carriers. Interfaces with a strong binding contrast-as facilitable between soft organic transport layers and crystalline perovskietbietabsorbers-possible low-specific separation, which benefits the recycles,” they emphasized. “However, this contrast often reflects mechanical, chemical or electronic mismatches on the interface, which can jeopardize passivating quality, introduce fall states or create offsets at energy level. These effects increase the recombination and reduce the life of the carriers.”
The researchers concluded that focusing on the efficiency of high solar cells could lead to broad structural conflicts with recyclability, because the most efficient PV devices have highly integrated architectures, including structured surfaces, passivating contact stacks, bury and multi -lagging.
“Such architectures introduce dense networks of functional interfaces and bound layers, resulting in mechanical access and low -specific separation,” the research team emphasized. “Even when material mixing is avoided, the strong physical and chemical integration of components the dismantling is affected. In this context, recycling is not only limited by entropy, but also by the nature of bonding and structural entanglement.”
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