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Recovery of silver and silicon from spent solar cells by direct separation driven by galvanic and chemical etching in molten chloride
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DOI：10.1016/j.scib.2026.05.008.png)
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Abstract
En 中文
The rapid expansion of photovoltaic (PV) deployment underscores the critical need for sustainable silver (Ag) and silicon (Si) recycling from retired modules. However, alkaline etching methods inevitably attack both the SiO2 and Si. In this study, the Ag/Si interface and SiNx layer were removed within 1 min via galvanic and chemical etching using molten NaCl-CaCl2. Galvanic etching occurred between the Al back layer anode and the SiO2 at the Ag/Si interface cathode within the molten NaCl-CaCl2 electrolyte. During galvanic etching, Al was oxidized to Al2O3 and SiO2 was reduced to Si with volume shrinkage, leading to Ag separation from the Si. Simultaneously, chemical etching was enabled by the reaction of CaCO3/CaO with SiO2 and SiNx, resulting in Ag and SiNx removal. This method achieved 99.0% Ag and Si recovery efficiency because Si is almost inert to the etching agent. Furthermore, life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle costing (LCC) confirmed a reduction of 11.0 kg CO2-eq and a benefit of $14.04 per kg for recycled cells. Overall, the molten salt provides a selective medium that allows both galvanic and chemical etching with lower material consumption, offering a technically viable circular pathway for PVs.
Keywords:
silver recovery
silicon recovery
molten salt etching
photovoltaic recycling
galvanic etching
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21.1
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