With the rapid development of society and economy, the demand for energy is increasing day by day. As an inexhaustible and inexhaustible green renewable energy, solar energy has received extensive attention worldwide. Solar cells are one of the important components of photovoltaic systems. Today, let's talk about how to deal with solar cells after recycling?

A brief introduction to solar cells

A solar cell is a device that responds to light and converts light energy into electricity. There are many kinds of materials that can produce photovoltaic effect, such as: monocrystalline silicon, polycrystalline silicon, amorphous silicon, gallium arsenide, indium copper selenide and so on. Their power generation principles are basically the same, and the essence of the whole process is: the process of converting photon energy into electrical energy.

The main function of solar cells is to generate electricity. The mainstream in the power generation market is crystalline silicon solar cells and thin-film solar cells, both of which have their own advantages and disadvantages. Crystal silicon solar cells have relatively low equipment cost, but high consumption and cell cost, but also high photoelectric conversion efficiency, which is more suitable for power generation in outdoor sunlight. Thin-film solar cells have relatively high equipment costs, but low consumption and battery costs, but the photoelectric conversion efficiency is slightly higher than that of crystalline silicon cells.

Second, the service life of solar cells

The service life of the battery is determined by the material of the battery, tempered glass, EVA, TPT, etc. Generally, the service life of the battery made by the manufacturer who uses a little better material can reach 25 years, but with the influence of the environment, the life of the solar panel Materials age over time. Under normal circumstances, the power will be attenuated by 30% after 20 years of use, and by 70% after 25 years of use.

3. Recycling and processing methods of solar cells

The life cycle of solar cells is generally 25 years. When the conversion efficiency decreases to a certain level, the solar cells fail to become unqualified solar cells, and qualified solar cells need to be scrapped and renewed. The energy with the smallest amount of waste will not generate waste that is harmful to the environment during the use of the module, but the solid waste generated after the solar cell is scrapped cannot be ignored.

After 2020, the solid waste of solar cells in my country will increase significantly, and the cumulative amount of waste will gradually increase. The treatment and recycling of solar cells will become an important environmental protection issue.

At the same time, a large number of unqualified solar cells will be produced in the production process of solar cells due to various reasons. Most of them use the method of centralized destruction. The main materials of solar cells are silicon, silver, aluminum, etc. Silicon, silver, and aluminum are all raw materials required in the production process of solar cells. If the unqualified solar cells are directly Destruction will not only cause a huge waste of raw materials, but at the same time, the battery residue after destruction will also pollute the environment, which is not environmentally friendly.

The existing method of recycling and processing waste solar cells is to directly soak the battery fragments with nitric acid and hydrofluoric acid mixed acid to obtain clean silicon material. Although this method is simple and easy to operate, it is easy to generate nitrogen dioxide and Nitric oxide is harmful gas, and the soaked solution contains a large amount of silver ions, which is easy to cause water pollution after discharge, and also causes waste of resources, which is not energy-saving and environmentally friendly.

summary:

The above is an introduction to the recycling of solar cells. Crystalline silicon solar cells have always dominated the photovoltaic market. Crystalline silicon solar cell photovoltaic systems mainly contain materials such as silicon, aluminum, silver, copper, glass and plastic. Among them, polysilicon, the main part of the battery, has a high recycling value, and the recycling value of other materials such as aluminum backplane, silver grid wire, tinned copper wire and glass should not be underestimated.

Original title: What are the disposal methods of solar cells after recycling?