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Researchers in South Korea have developed a method to convert high-purity silver nanoparticles recovered from end-of-life silicon solar panels into electrocatalysts capable of high-rate carbon monoxide production, according to pv magazine. The work, published in the Journal of CO2 Utilization, was carried out with contributions from the Korea Institute of Science and Technology, RESET Company, Sungkyunkwan University, the Korea University of Science and Technology and Yonsei University.
Carbon monoxide serves as an industrial feedstock for chemicals and fuels, including methanol, acetic acid and synthetic hydrocarbons. The recovered silver formed a rough catalyst surface that helped prevent flooding inside the electrolyzer, allowing carbon monoxide production to continue for more than 600 hours.
The researchers collected end-of-life silicon solar panels and mechanically processed them with a commercial separation system operated by RESET Company. After removing aluminum frames, tempered glass and backsheets, they heated the remaining solar cell fragments to 800 C to break down the ethylene-vinyl acetate encapsulant. The fragments were then immersed in nitric acid to dissolve metals and separate the silicon residue. A first alkaline treatment precipitated impurities such as copper, aluminum and lead, while a second alkaline treatment precipitated silver as silver oxide.
The silver oxide was dispersed in ethanol with stearic acid and subjected to laser irradiation to reduce it to metallic silver nanoparticles. The recovered particles were mixed with a Nafion ionomer solution and isopropanol, then spray-coated onto a carbon gas diffusion layer at 70 C. Using the same preparation method and a target silver loading of 1 mg/cm2, the team also fabricated a comparison electrode from commercial silver nanoparticles.
Both electrodes were tested in a 10 cm2 zero-gap membrane electrode assembly electrolyzer, with a potassium bicarbonate solution circulating on the anode side and carbon dioxide supplied to the cathode. Microscopy and chemical analyses were used to examine particle size, shape, crystal structure and purity, and to compare the surfaces of the two coated electrodes. Carbon monoxide production and selectivity were measured at increasing current densities, alongside extended durability tests. The researchers also assessed how strongly water droplets and carbon dioxide bubbles adhered to each electrode, and used a transparent electrolyzer to observe liquid entering the gas diffusion layers during operation, enabling a comparison of flooding resistance.
The academics said the work shows that upcycled photovoltaic waste can serve as a durable and scalable alternative to resource-intensive commercial catalysts, advancing the practical implementation of sustainable carbon dioxide conversion. They added that it underscores the potential of integrating electronic waste valorization with electrocatalytic carbon utilization.
Physical characterizations and surface analyses indicated that the hydrometallurgical recovery combined with laser photoreduction naturally produces a highly crystalline metallic silver state with a multi-scale nano-to-micro morphological distribution, according to the researchers. They noted that while this hierarchical polydispersity causes a minor trade-off in initial electrochemical active surface area compared with uniform commercial counterparts, it becomes a critical structural asset during high-rate membrane electrode assembly operations.
Results showed that the end-of-life silver gas diffusion electrode demonstrated high flooding tolerance, sustaining continuous and stable carbon dioxide electrolysis in a 10 cm2 zero-gap cell for more than 600 hours at 100 mA/cm2. It also operated for 55 hours at an industrially relevant current density of 200 mA/cm2 while maintaining carbon monoxide selectivity of around 95%.
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