Schoden Fabian, Schnatmann Anna Katharina, Davies Emma, Diederich Dirk, Storck Jan Lukas, Knefelkamp Dörthe, Blachowicz Tomasz, Schwenzfeier-Hellkamp Eva
Institute for Technical Energy Systems (ITES), Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences, 33619 Bielefeld, Germany.
Institut für Glas- und Rohstofftechnologie GmbH, 37079 Göttingen, Germany.
Materials (Basel). 2021 Nov 3;14(21):6622. doi: 10.3390/ma14216622.
The effects of climate change are becoming increasingly clear, and the urgency of solving the energy and resource crisis has been recognized by politicians and society. One of the most important solutions is sustainable energy technologies. The problem with the state of the art, however, is that production is energy-intensive and non-recyclable waste remains after the useful life. For monocrystalline photovoltaics, for example, there are recycling processes for glass and aluminum, but these must rather be described as downcycling. The semiconductor material is not recycled at all. Another promising technology for sustainable energy generation is dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Although efficiency and long-term stability still need to be improved, the technology has high potential to complement the state of the art. DSSCs have comparatively low production costs and can be manufactured without toxic components. In this work, we present the world' s first experiment to test the recycling potential of non-toxic glass-based DSSCs in a melting test. The glass constituents were analyzed by optical emission spectrometry with inductively coupled plasma (ICP-OES), and the surface was examined by scanning electron microscopy energy dispersive X-ray (SEM-EDX). The glass was melted in a furnace and compared to a standard glass recycling process. The results show that the described DSSCs are suitable for glass recycling and thus can potentially circulate in a circular economy without a downcycling process. However, material properties such as chemical resistance, transparency or viscosity are not investigated in this work and need further research.
气候变化的影响日益明显，解决能源和资源危机的紧迫性已得到政界人士和社会的认可。最重要的解决方案之一是可持续能源技术。然而，现有技术的问题在于生产能源密集，且使用寿命结束后会产生不可回收的废物。例如，对于单晶硅光伏电池，玻璃和铝有回收工艺，但这些工艺更应被描述为降级回收。半导体材料根本无法回收。另一种有前景的可持续能源发电技术是染料敏化太阳能电池（DSSC）。尽管效率和长期稳定性仍需提高，但该技术有很大潜力补充现有技术。DSSC生产成本相对较低，且可在无有毒成分的情况下制造。在这项工作中，我们展示了世界上首个在熔融试验中测试无毒玻璃基DSSC回收潜力的实验。通过电感耦合等离子体发射光谱法（ICP - OES）分析玻璃成分，并用扫描电子显微镜能谱仪（SEM - EDX）检查表面。将玻璃在熔炉中熔化，并与标准玻璃回收工艺进行比较。结果表明，所述DSSC适用于玻璃回收，因此有可能在循环经济中循环而无需降级回收过程。然而，本工作未研究诸如耐化学性、透明度或粘度等材料特性，需要进一步研究。
