Cheap and enviromentally friendly: Tofu ingredient could revolutionize solar panel manuf

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The chemical used to make tofu and bath salts could also replace a highly toxic and expensive substance used to make solar cells, a new study has revealed. Cadmium chloride is currently a key ingredient in solar cell technology used in millions of solar panels around the world. This soluble compound is highly toxic and expensive to produce, requiring elaborate safety measures to protect workers during manufacture and then specialist disposal when panels are no longer needed.Oo9Iiw1pbog

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  • inetdog
    inetdog Solar Expert Posts: 3,123 ✭✭✭✭
    #2
    Re: Cheap and enviromentally friendly: Tofu ingredient could revolutionize solar panel m

    That still leaves (smaller amounts) of CadmiumTelluride in the panel manufacturing process. Just at a different stage of the process.
    And what proportion of PV cells currently in use are actually CdTe?
    SMA SB 3000, old BP panels.
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  • ggunn
    ggunn Solar Expert Posts: 1,973 ✭✭✭
    #3
    Re: Cheap and enviromentally friendly: Tofu ingredient could revolutionize solar panel m
    inetdog wrote: »
    That still leaves (smaller amounts) of CadmiumTelluride in the panel manufacturing process. Just at a different stage of the process.
    And what proportion of PV cells currently in use are actually CdTe?

    From the article: "The cheapest solar cells being manufactured today are based on a thin film of insoluble cadmium telluride. Alone, these cells convert less than two percent of sunlight into energy. By applying cadmium chloride to them, this efficiency increases to over 15 percent."

    Over 15%? Thin film PV?
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