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Continuous Electrolyte Jet Scanning Enabled Near-Quantitative and High-Purity Silver Recovery from Silicon Solar

Wending Gu1, David Payne1, Shujuan Huang1

  • 1School of Engineering, Macquarie University, Sydney, 2109 New South Wales, Australia.

JACS Au
|March 27, 2026
PubMed
Summary

A new electrolyte jet scanning (EJSC) method efficiently recovers silver from end-of-life silicon solar cells. This sustainable approach offers high purity silver and economic benefits, promoting a circular economy for critical metals.

Keywords:
closed-loop recyclingelectrolyte jet scanningend-of-life silicon solar cellsmass-transport enhancementselective dissolutionsilver recovery

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Area of Science:

  • Materials Science and Engineering
  • Sustainable Chemistry
  • Circular Economy Technologies

Background:

  • Accelerating retirement of silicon solar cells generates substantial secondary silver, a finite resource.
  • Conventional recycling methods for silver recovery are inefficient, energy-intensive, and face mass-transport limitations.
  • There is a critical need for sustainable and high-efficiency silver recovery to support a circular economy.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To develop a novel, high-efficiency method for recovering silver from end-of-life silicon solar cells.
  • To preserve the structural integrity of photovoltaic substrates during the silver extraction process.
  • To establish a sustainable and economically viable pathway for silver recycling within a circular economy framework.

Main Methods:

  • A 'top-down' electrolyte jet scanning (EJSC) strategy was employed for selective silver recovery.
  • Tunable interelectrode gap (IEG) and coordinated nozzle motion confined the reaction to a microzone.
  • Dissolved silver ions were recovered via reverse electrodeposition.

Main Results:

  • EJSC achieved near-quantitative silver extraction (97.1% in 4 min) from 4 cm² cell areas under mild conditions.
  • High-purity silver powders (99.88%) were obtained with high recovery efficiency (92.6% in 3 min).
  • The process demonstrated high current efficiency, sustained high silver yield (>91%) over multiple cycles, and favorable techno-economic assessments.

Conclusions:

  • EJSC offers a selective, rapid, and sustainable method for silver recovery from end-of-life solar cells, preserving substrate integrity.
  • The technology exhibits strong industrial feasibility, scalability, and significantly lower environmental impact compared to conventional methods.
  • EJSC provides a versatile platform for urban mining of critical metals and upcycling of photovoltaic waste.