Journal
MATERIALS
Volume 14, Issue 21, Pages -Publisher
MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/ma14216622
Keywords
recycling; circular economy; dye-sensitized solar cell; glass recycling; ICP-OES; SEM-EDX; melting experiment
Categories
Funding
- State of NRW
- University of Applied Sciences Bielefeld
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The effects of climate change are increasingly clear, and the urgency of solving the energy and resource crisis has been recognized by politicians and society. Sustainable energy technologies, such as dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), are important solutions with high potential due to their low production costs and non-toxic components.
The effects of climate change are becoming increasingly clear, and the urgency of solving the energy and resource crisis has been recognized by politicians and society. One of the most important solutions is sustainable energy technologies. The problem with the state of the art, however, is that production is energy-intensive and non-recyclable waste remains after the useful life. For monocrystalline photovoltaics, for example, there are recycling processes for glass and aluminum, but these must rather be described as downcycling. The semiconductor material is not recycled at all. Another promising technology for sustainable energy generation is dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Although efficiency and long-term stability still need to be improved, the technology has high potential to complement the state of the art. DSSCs have comparatively low production costs and can be manufactured without toxic components. In this work, we present the world' s first experiment to test the recycling potential of non-toxic glass-based DSSCs in a melting test. The glass constituents were analyzed by optical emission spectrometry with inductively coupled plasma (ICP-OES), and the surface was examined by scanning electron microscopy energy dispersive X-ray (SEM-EDX). The glass was melted in a furnace and compared to a standard glass recycling process. The results show that the described DSSCs are suitable for glass recycling and thus can potentially circulate in a circular economy without a downcycling process. However, material properties such as chemical resistance, transparency or viscosity are not investigated in this work and need further research.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available