Can this save us from a solar e-waste glut?
To get to the heart of this problem, you need to know the architecture of solar cells, which are the building blocks of solar panels. Solar cells are composed of silicon, aluminum, copper, silver, lead, and a complicated mixture of other materials.
Recycling such materials individually is difficult, which is why current recycling procedures primarily focus on the glass and metallic support structure, while silicon -- which makes up 90 percent of solar cells -- ends up in landfills. Unfortunately, recycled silicon has impurities and defects, which prevent it from being used toIn the latest study, the researchers decided to turn this limitation into opportunity and converted old solar cells into enhanced thermoelectric material.
The researchers developed a sample having the most optimized thermoelectric performance, with a record-high thermoelectric figure of merit of 0.45 at 873 K, which is the best among elemental silicon thermoelectrics.
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