This is a truly important question because it considers a critical issue. The following article discusses the requirements and challenges associated with the recycling of solar panels. Various commercial photovoltaic technologies are considred.

https://www.solarpowerworldonline.com/2018/04/its-time-to-plan-for-solar-panel-recycling-in-the-united-states/

Dear Polina,

This interesting topic has been discussed by researchers in the past. Check out the following papers:

- End-of-life management and recycling of PV modules

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/7cf1/9afd6ad82a3789a1b4cd24ea5993731a60bd.pdf

- Producer responsibility and recycling solar photovoltaic modules

http://qspace.library.queensu.ca/bitstream/handle/1974/6122/PV%20Recycling%20QShare.pdf?sequence=1

- Future recycling flows of tellurium from cadmium telluride photovoltaic waste

https://depositonce.tu-berlin.de/bitstream/11303/7375/3/2012_marwede_et-al.pdf

Hope it helps.

Best,

Aryan

As M. El-Shimy states, this is an important issue.However, it is also useful to examine why you want to do this and what it achieves. The PV semiconductors are crystals and therefore extremely stable structures, and monocrystalline types might last tens of thousands of years without degrading significantly. Obviously amorphous types will not last anything like as long. But the parts of the panel that degrade most rapidly will be all the interconnections. Soldered/welded joints crystallise and fall apart in tens of years sometimes. Crimped joints likewise. Any electrical joint + water = failure sooner or later. So you might target not recycling the individual cells, but removing them, cleaning them thoroughly and reusing them. The rest of the array, supporting structures and wiring may need total replacement. None of this is technically difficult - but it is labour intensive and might not be 'cost effective' in financial terms - if that is how you are going to judge the outcomes.