Epoxy-Silicon Composite Materials from End-of-Life Photovoltaic Panels

Abstract

AbstractThe prospect of using recovered solar cells from end-of-life (EoL) photovoltaic panels (PVPs) to produce composite materials with dielectric properties was studied. The main goal of this research was to reduce the waste originating from EoL PVPs by reusing the semiconductor, thus rendering solar energy an even greener energy source. Solar cells were recovered from EoL PVPs through thermal treatment to remove polymer sheets and screening to separate the solar cells from glass and electrodes. Composite materials were manufactured by reinforcing two different epoxy resins, Araldite LY556 and Resoltech 1050, with varying concentrations of ground solar cells (0–10% w/w). The mechanical and dielectric properties of the composite materials were examined with bending and shearing tests and Broadband Dielectric Spectroscopy (BDS), respectively. The responses from the two different resin matrices were compared. It was found that the produced composite material resulting from Resoltech resin reinforced with solar cells recovered from EoL PVPs had better mechanical and dielectric properties. BDS characterization of the composite materials indicated that the solar cells can be used to enhance the energy storage capacity of the polymeric matrix and thus may be potentially used in the manufacturing of capacitors. Graphical Abstract