Oxyfluoride glasses obtained through incorporation of CaF$_2$ into photovoltaic cover glass melts

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that incorporating CaF$_2$ into recycled photovoltaic cover glass melts produces oxyfluoride glasses with lower melting temperatures, high transparency, and thermal stability, offering an eco-friendly alternative for glass manufacturing.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method to reuse end-of-life cover glass by creating oxyfluoride glasses with reduced melting temperatures and potential for glass-ceramics, enhancing sustainability in the glass industry.

Findings

Melting temperature reduced to about 1200°C

High transparency and thermal stability of the samples

Formation of crystalline phases indicating potential for glass-ceramics

Abstract

The glass industry has limited options to mitigate its environmental footprint, and the demand for cover glass to produce photovoltaic panels is increasing. Currently, the majority of this special type of glass is not being recycled, and in this work, we propose to reuse it as raw material to obtain oxyfluoride glasses. The incorporation of CaF$_2$ and the increasing Na$_2$CO$_3$ content resulted in a melting temperature of about 1200$^o$C, significantly lower than in soda-lime glasses, which adds up to the environmental benefits of reusing end-of-life cover glass. The obtained samples show high transparency and thermal stability, allowing the cover glass to make up to 80\% of its weight. XRF analysis was employed to determine the elemental composition of the samples, while XRD and Raman indicated that by adding CaF$_2$, the glass network was depolymerized. In situ XRD as a function of temperature showed the formation of a few crystalline phases in these oxyfluoride samples, evidencing that it can be explored as a matrix to obtain different glass-ceramics. The combination of the glass properties indicates that this method and the resulting material can contribute to reducing the environmental impact of the glass industry, by creating new glass or glass-ceramic materials that can be obtained at a reduced temperature compared to the soda-lime glass, while cover glass being the primary raw material could reduce the need to extract minerals from nature.