Comprehensive recycling and utilization of photovoltaic waste: Use photovoltaic glass waste to refine silicon kerf waste

Large amounts of silicon kerf waste (SKW) and photovoltaic (PV) glass waste are being generated as the PV industry grows. At present, independent approaches have been adopted to recycle these waste materials. In this work, an original approach was first proposed for recycling silicon by using PV glass particles (PVGPs) that refine SKW. Compared with the experiment wherein no PVGPs were added, silicon yield increased from 51.44% to 87.66%. Furthermore, the transfer of the SiO2 surface-layer and the separation of silicon from slag were realized with different phase affinities. Moreover, network breakers, such as Ca2+ and F , in PVGPs destroyed the network structure of SiO2 and provided a favorable microenvironment for silicon separation. This work inno-vatively used PV glass waste to refine SKW. It is expected to provide a green cleaning solution for the circular development of the PV industry.