Production of hydrogen and geopolymers from end of life photovoltaic panels

Photovoltaic panel waste is expected to rise rapidly as installed modules approach their end of life. Recovery and reuse of valuable components such as semiconductors is crucial. Crystalline silicon panel derived waste reacts with alkali producing hydrogen gas and metasilicate structures in the solution which can be used as geopolymerization activator. In this work the prospect of utilizing 1st generation crystalline silicon panel waste for geopolymer activation with simultaneous hydrogen production is examined. Preliminary test results show that 1.55±0.05L of hydrogen gas can be produced from 1g of recovered semiconductor (Si). The resulting metasilicate solution is used for fly ash geopolymer activation. After 7 days of curing, the compressive strength of the generated geopolymer samples reached 19.5±0.5 MPa, indicating that this zero-waste reuse pathway can be viable after optimization.