China just solved the biggest problem in silicon photovoltaics by creating 100% recycled panels

Trina Solar has given a new twist to the sustainability of the photovoltaic industry with the world’s first fully recycled silicon solar panel, proving that it is possible to reuse them without compromising their efficiency. For context, solar panels last two to three decades before degrading significantly. The problem then is that they cannot be fully recycled or their refurbishment is very expensive.

Chinese manufacturer Trina Solar has created the first fully recycled crystalline silicon photovoltaic panel. The secret lies in the 37 recycling technologies patented by its researchers, which allow silicon, aluminium, glass and even silver to be separated and reused from discarded modules to assemble a new functional and equally efficient panel.

(Image: Trina Solar/Reproduction)

The techniques include internally developed release agents, etching technologies to dissolve unwanted materials and methods to extract silver, one of the problematic materials, through wet treatments. Researchers have succeeded in reusing all the valuable components from disused solar panels, a new sustainability milestone for the industry.
Trina Solar’s 100% recycled solar panel is an n-type with TOPcon (Tunnel Oxide Passivated Contact) cells, one of the most promising technologies in silicon panels. Despite the peculiarity of its construction, it has a power output of over 645 watts and a conversion efficiency of 20.7%, not far from traditional solar panels, but still below the 25% achieved by factory-fresh TOPCon panels or the 27% achieved by perovskite cells. .

Recycling and starting over

With this data, Trina Solar demonstrated that it is possible to reuse the most valuable materials from discarded solar panels without compromising the efficiency and power of the new panel. This is a significant achievement considering that many countries require 80% of solar panel materials to be recycled. It is also a first step towards a world where we no longer have to mine metals to make solar panels when the ones we have degrade.