Have you ever wondered what happens to solar cells after they’re completely used? What are the disposal techniques for them? Did you ever think that the clean energy we use might leave behind waste that’s harmful to the environment? Well, not anymore.
An international team of researchers, led by Linköping University and Cornell University, has found a way to recycle perovskite solar cells safely, and the best part is, they do it using just water. No harmful chemicals, no messy waste. Just a simple, green water-based solution that can change how we look at solar energy forever.
Here’s what usually happens: when solar panels reach the end of their life, recycling them can be messy. Many existing methods use toxic solvents that create even more environmental problems.
But the new method developed by these scientists is completely different. They designed a special water-based solution with some simple, low-cost additives like sodium acetate, sodium iodide, and hypophosphorous acid. This mix helps dissolve the materials inside the panel, like the perovskite layer, glass, and metal parts, carefully, without damaging the environment, and recovers them for reuse.
They first heat the solar panel to loosen the outer layers. Then, they soak the degraded materials in the water solution. As the solution cools, the important components like perovskite crystals, glass, and metal particles are recovered and can be reused.
These recycled solar cells work just as well as brand-new ones. In fact, after recycling the materials five times, the solar panels still kept about 88% of their original efficiency under tough conditions like high heat and light exposure.
This method doesn’t just save materials, it also protects the planet. Researchers found that it reduces resource wastage by 96.6% and cuts harmful toxic impacts by about 69%.
It can even lower the cost of solar electricity in the future by making it cheaper to reuse materials.
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