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Utilization of Industrial Solar Cells’ Scrap as the Base Material to Form Coatings

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Abstract

The aim of this research is to find possible ways to recycle and re-use industrial solar cell scrap. The work is concentrated on cells which are broken, damaged or rejected during the manufacturing process, which accounts from 2 to 3 percent of whole production on average. Different chemical methods have been suggested for the recovery of pure valuable elements from damaged or worn cells, while the technology presented in this paper utilizes industrial solar cell scrap to produce secondary value products. Crushed industrial waste of different fraction sizes was analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) methods. Tungsten inert gas welding (TIG) has been chosen as the coating formation process. Proper parameters: current 55 A, voltage 19 V, gas flow rate 5 l/min, torch tilt angle 80–85° were selected experimentally, as parameters of common welding are not suitable for the deposition. The chemical composition and transition of chemical elements towards the substrate showed sufficient adhesion and smooth distribution of elements. Alongside with aforementioned methods, mechanical tests were accomplished, showing that damaged solar cells industrial scrap could be used as a source of alloying elements to compose the coating. The hardness of produced coatings as deposited reached 39 HRC (microhardness 2 GPa) on average. Formed coatings could serve for various applications, however further in-depth research is necessary. As suggested, the wear test method is too aggressive for this type of surface. Nevertheless, coatings based on industrial solar cell scrap showed a mass loss two times lower on average than normalized structural steel S355 substrate in rough abrasive conditions.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Research, Development and Innovation Fund of Kaunas University of Technology [Grant Number PP-88H/19] and the Research, Development and Innovation Transfer Department of Lithuanian Energy Institute (SELDAN).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Production Engineering, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Design, Kaunas University of Technology, Studentu st. 56, 51424, Kaunas, Lithuania

    Regita Bendikiene, Antanas Ciuplys, Kazimieras Juzenas & Rolandas Sertvytis

  2. Lithuania Energy Institute, Breslaujos st. 3, 44403, Kaunas, Lithuania

    Arunas Baltusnikas, Irena Lukosiute & Regina Kalpokaite-Dickuviene

  3. JSC Soli Tek R&D, Mokslininkų g. 6A, 08412, Vilnius, Lithuania

    Julius Denafas

  4. Institute of Environmental Engineering, Kaunas University of Technology, K. Donelaičio str. 20, 44239, Kaunas, Lithuania

    Julius Denafas

Authors
  1. Regita Bendikiene
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Contributions

RB—Writing—Original Draft, Project administration, Supervision; AB—Formal analysis, Methodology, Conceptualization; AC—Investigation, Data Curation, Writing—Review and Editing; IL—Investigation, Visualization, Data Curation; KJ—Investigation, Visualization, Data Curation; RLD—Investigation, Visualization, Data Curation; RS—Investigation, Formal analysis; JD—Investigation, Formal analysis.

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Correspondence to Regita Bendikiene.

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Bendikiene, R., Baltusnikas, A., Ciuplys, A. et al. Utilization of Industrial Solar Cells’ Scrap as the Base Material to Form Coatings. Waste Biomass Valor 12, 2757–2767 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12649-020-01153-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12649-020-01153-8

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