Recycling waste crystalline-silicon solar cells: Application as high performance Si-based anode materials for lithium-ion batteries

Recycling useful materials such as Ag, Al, Sn, Cu and Si from waste silicon solar cell chips is a sustainable project to slow down the ever-growing amount of waste crystalline-silicon photovoltaic panels. However, the recovery cost of the above-mentioned materials from silicon chips via acid-alkaline treatments outweights the gain economically. Herein, we propose a new proof-of-concept to fabricate Si-based anodes with waste silicon chips as raw materials. Nanoparticles from waste silicon chips were prepared with the high-energy ball milling followed by introducing carbon nanotubes and N-doped carbon into the nanoparticles, which amplifies the electrochemical properties. It is explored that Al and Ag elements influenced electrochemical performance respectively. The results showed that the Al metal in the composite possesses an adverse impact on the electrochemical performance. After removing Al, the composite was confirmed to possess a pronounced durable cycling property due to the presence of Ag, resulting in significantly more superior property than the composite having both Al and Ag removed.