Arsenic In Solar Panels

To keep prices down though the company uses very small amounts of gallium and arsenic creating a layer of gallium arsenide only one micron thick.

Arsenic in solar panels.

Your weary solar panels contain arsenic cadmium silicon copper and everyone s favorite lead. Gallium arsenide is an important semiconductor material for high cost high efficiency solar cells and is used for single crystalline thin film solar cells and for multi junction solar cells. Per epa parlance you re responsible for the storage of any toxic waste you generate from cradle to grave. Gallium arsenide solar cells can have roughly 25 efficiency rating with only one junction.

Arsenic cadmium telluride hexafluoroethane lead and polyvinyl fluoride are just some of the chemicals used to manufacture various types of solar cells. The solar cell is the first building block of a solar panel. Key ingredients in a solar panel include solar cells photovoltaic modules and semiconductors. The first known operational use of gaas solar cells in space was for the venera 3 mission launched in 1965.

Environmental scientists and solar industry leaders are raising the red flag about used solar panels which contain toxic heavy metals and are considered hazardous waste. A new study by environmental progress warns that toxic waste from used solar panels now poses a global environmental threat the berkeley based group found that solar panels create 300 times more toxic waste per unit of energy than nuclear power plants discarded solar panels which contain dangerous elements such as lead chromium and cadmium. With recycling expensive. Alta devices makes solar panels using gallium arsenide cells a more efficient material than the generally cheaper silicon based cells.

In a recent article in the magazine electronic news gallium arsenide was tested on a germanium substrate. This makes them a good candidate for a stacked type of solar panels used for collecting light from all across the spectrum. A solar panel converts the sun s radiant energy into electricity using photovoltaic cells commonly known as solar cells. Templer421 shares an article from national review.