Securing Indium Utilization for High-Tech and Renewable Energy Industries

Abstract

Indium has emerged as a strategic metal for high-tech and renewable industries, being catalogued as a critical material to foster a greener future. Nevertheless, its global sustainability is not well addressed. Here, using dynamic substance flow analysis, we study the indium industry evolution between 2010 and 2020 and estimate its future demand in the medium and long term toward 2050 to identify potential paths and mechanisms to decrease indium losses and to identify the key stages in its life cycle. As electronics and photovoltaic industries will play a crucial role in the indium demand, we assess their indium demand employing three cumulative photovoltaic capacity scenarios (8.5, 14, and 60 TW by 2050) with different dominant photovoltaic sub-technologies. Results show that liquid-crystal displays and photovoltaic panels will drive indium future demand, increasing its current demand by 2.2–4.2, 2.6–7.0, and 6.8–38.3 times for the 8.5, 14, and 60 TW scenarios, respectively, threatening with shortages that could occur as early as the next decade. Therefore, measures to reduce losses in primary production, innovations and improvements in electronics and solar panels, and indium recycling with an effective circular economy strategy could promote and secure the future sustainability of indium.

Does the openness of the Boundary Shell system influence the sustainable development of the high-tech industry?

“…4. Furthermore, our findings have been juxtaposed with alternative theoretical constructs, revealing that notwithstanding certain methodological divergences [32], our model proffers enhanced precision and discernment in the appraisal of sustainable development within high-tech industries [33]. In contradistinction to theoretical forecasts [34], our paradigm, by initiating from the perspective of Boundary Shell Theory and employing the auxiliary and primary support levels of the boundary system as analytical vehicles, achieves a more veracious representation of the actual market dynamics and technological progression trends.…”

Achieving energy transformation: Metal intensity for the development of China's photovoltaic roadmap towards 2060

“…These three elements represent >95% of the total metal requirements. In the case of other metals, lead, tin, cadmium, and silver account for the majority, of indium and selenium demand increased in the high CIGS scenario and tellurium demand rose in the high CdTe scenario (23). Among the sub-technologies, the high c-Si cell shows to be the most metal intensive, requiring nearly 37 Mt and 47 Mt for the BLS and CNS, respectively, followed by the 2DS, high CdTe, high CIGS, and high a-Si scenarios (detailed metal concentration of each scenario and dominant sub-technology is reported in SI Appendix).…”

Advancements in Photovoltaic Cell Materials: Silicon, Organic, and Perovskite Solar Cells

“…Both elements are relatively rare and have competing uses in other technologies, which could limit the scalability of CIGS solar cells. Research into recycling these materials from end-of-life products and exploring alternative, more abundant materials for CIGS cells is ongoing [ 66 , 67 ].…”