Assessing Rare Metal Availability Challenges for Solar  Energy Technologies

Grandell, Leena; Höök, Mikael

doi:10.3390/su70911818

Cited by 55 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…This indicates a huge loss of this element in primary production [3]. Gallium has unique properties that give it wide application in both electrical and electronic equipment, notably in photovoltaics and semiconductors technologies [3,6].…”

Section: The General Overview Of Gallium Productionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Production of gallium arsenide is 30% efficient and 70% is captured for recycling and the capturing is only 71% efficient. Since the current technology does not allow extraction of gallium on its own [12], therefore, decline in production of one or more host elements can seriously affect its production [3,6,7]. This loss, besides the loss in primary production could add more to the criticality of the element.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…cited therein) showed that gallium production increased from 292 to 383 metric tonnes from 2012 to 2013 [5] and that gallium production is now four times higher than it was before 2010. Annual gallium production currently is beyond 400 t [6]. Demand for gallium is forecasted to increase up to 224 % by 2050 compared to 2010 [7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In thin film PV cells, gallium is used together with other metals such as copper, indium, and selenium in the form of CopperIndium-Gallium-diSelenide (CIGS) [3,7,9]. Typical concentration of gallium in CIGS rages between 2.3 and 19.7 kg per mega-watt of power or 0.53 g/m3 of the unit [6,10]. Therefore, the more governments shift to green sources of power the more the demand for these elements.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Growing Global Demand for Element Gallium: Electrical and Electronic Waste and Coal Fly Ash as Alternative Sources for its Sustainable Supply

2017

IJSR

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Gallium (Ga) is listed among the critical elements because of its high demand, low crustal concentration and dispersed occurrence. Growth in demand for this element is a response to proliferation in production of electronic devices and a global effort to decarbonised power production. This situation calls for exploitation of alternative sources such as fly ash and recycling processes from finished products. Wide implementation of these options is yet to be witnessed or still in their infancy with only a few facilities worldwide. This is attributable to low material intensity per unit product and the fact that this kind of waste has not accumulated high enough to attract recycling for instance. Most gallium bearing devices though have other critical, precious and or non-precious elements that co-exist with it. These co-existing elements are relatively high in concentrations and some of them are already being recycled from the same end-of-life products. Therefore an option that involves co-recovery of gallium together with other co-existing elements which are already being recycled and extraction from other sources such as fly ash is to be a viable pursuit in sustaining gallium supply. Viability stems on the similarities of gallium concentration in those sources, recovery methods and conditions used in recycling of gallium. More research however, to explore potential combinations of co-existing metals to be co-extracted with and methods to be employed is vital.

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Section: The General Overview Of Gallium Productionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Growing Global Demand for Element Gallium: Electrical and Electronic Waste and Coal Fly Ash as Alternative Sources for its Sustainable Supply

2017

IJSR

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“…In addition, there are some studies which consider recycling a sustainable solution in order to overcome the supply risks and the scarcity of RMs [4,[11][12][13][14].…”

Section: Rare Metals Management and Recyclingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Closed-Loop Supply Chain Planning Model of Rare Metals

et al. 2018

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Rare metals (RMs) are becoming increasingly important in high-tech industries associated with the Fourth Industrial Revolution, such as the electric vehicle (EV) and 3D printer industries. As the growth of these industries accelerates in the near future, manufacturers will also face greater RM supply risks. For this reason, many countries are putting considerable effort into securing the RM supply. For example, countries including Japan, Korea, and the USA have adopted two major policies: the stockpile system and Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). Therefore, it is necessary for the manufacturers with RMs to establish a suitable supply chain plan that reflects this situation. In this study, the RM classification matrix is created based on the stockpile and recycling level in Korea. Accordingly, three different types of supply chain are designed in order to develop the closed-loop supply chain (CLSC) planning model of RM, and the CLSC planning models of RM are validated through experimental analysis. The results show that the stockpiling and the EPR recycling obligation increase the amount of recycled flow and reduce the total cost of the part manufacturing, which means that these two factors are significant for obtaining sustainability of the RMs' CLSC. In addition, the government needs to set an appropriate sharing cost for promoting the manufacturer's recycling. Also, from the manufacturer's perspective, it is better to increase the return rate by making a contract with the collectors to guarantee the collection of used products.

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In‐Depth Compositional Analysis of the Carbon‐Rich Fine‐Grain Layer in Solution‐Processed CZTSSe Films Accessed by a Photonic Lift‐Off Process

Javed,

Jones,

Campbell

et al. 2023

Adv Materials Inter

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The existence of a fine‐grain (FG) sub‐layer between the top large‐grain (LG) layer and the back contact is widely observed in kesterite absorbers prepared with organic solvents. In this paper, the distinguishing features of the lifted‐off carbon‐rich FG layer are investigated through direct analysis with a series of characterization techniques, including X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), attenuated total reflectance, X‐ray diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy. To access the FG layer for direct probing, a scalable and repeatable photonic lift‐off method is developed for carrying out the separation of the kesterite absorber layer from the Mo‐coated glass substrate. A very high light intensity of 4 kW cm−2 for a short interval of 1 ms is optimized by COMSOL simulations, and successful implementation is demonstrated. The XPS analysis has revealed significant carbon content at the exposed FG surface, which explains the hindrance of grain growth due to carbon abundance. The variations in cations and anions concentrations from FG layer leading into LG region are explored through argon ions (Ar+) assisted XPS depth profiling. The observed significant differences between the composition of FG and LG regions are speculated to negatively impact the performance of solar cells.

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Assessing Rare Metal Availability Challenges for Solar Energy Technologies

Cited by 55 publications

References 48 publications

The Growing Global Demand for Element Gallium: Electrical and Electronic Waste and Coal Fly Ash as Alternative Sources for its Sustainable Supply

The Growing Global Demand for Element Gallium: Electrical and Electronic Waste and Coal Fly Ash as Alternative Sources for its Sustainable Supply

Closed-Loop Supply Chain Planning Model of Rare Metals

In‐Depth Compositional Analysis of the Carbon‐Rich Fine‐Grain Layer in Solution‐Processed CZTSSe Films Accessed by a Photonic Lift‐Off Process

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