By Poppy Johnston
Publication Date: 2026-05-04 04:28:00
The race is on to extract more value from retired solar systems to improve recycling economics and prevent tens of thousands of tons of material from ending up in landfills.
Materials such as glass, silver and copper can be obtained from legacy systems. However, it has proven difficult to remove silicon that is pure enough to be made into new panels.
The high-purity silicon wafers that absorb photons from solar panels are very valuable and therefore must be protected from the elements by firmly bonding them to the substrate material.
A research team at the University of New England is now using AI tools to help separate pure silicon from the substrate.
The newly formed Institute for Strategic AI is using the technology to automate the discovery and testing of potential solvents that can efficiently isolate components of the silicon wafers.
The three types of AI – predictive, generative and agentic – first suggest promising solvents and then analyze the results after testing them…