The growth of photovoltaic waste at a global level requires special attention to the end of life of panels. In this context, research and innovation can play a crucial role in reducing resource scarcity problems and reducing foreign imports at lower costs than primary raw materials.
There are two patents filed by Enea researchers in the field of studies aimed at recycling the materials that make up the photovoltaic panels:

The first is dedicated to the silicon of photovoltaic panels, which at the end of life becomes an innovative nanomaterial for the development of less expensive and more performing batteries; The second concerns the other materials that make up the photovoltaic panels that can be separated by infrared and then be used for other purposes.
Patents are currently at the prototype stage and not at the industrial one that will have to follow another path. At the moment, only the patent concerning silicon for batteries can be used in the recycling plants of abandoned photovoltaic panels and in the same production plants of photovoltaic panels, for example, to recover silicon from defective panels».

Disposal, which at the moment is not yet an emergency, could see a first critical moment from 2026, that is, twenty years from the first installations and if it seems simple enough to deal with the end of life of a panel for domestic use, the situation changes when it comes to professional equipment.

Let’s save the world together!