Silicon electrowinning by molten salts electrolysis

Front Chem. 2023 Feb 2:11:1133990. doi: 10.3389/fchem.2023.1133990. eCollection 2023.

Abstract

Electrochemically produced Si in molten salts can be used to fabricate electronic and photovoltaic devices. The major factors influencing the structure and morphology of Si deposits are electrolyte composition, applied current densities and overpotentials, type of precursors, operating temperature, and electrodeposition duration. For Si electrodeposition, a less corrosive electrolyte with the ability to dissolve Si species and easily soluble in water should be used. This review provides a brief analysis of the Si production by electrolysis in molten salts.

Keywords: Si films; electrodeposition; electrolysis; molten salts; silicon.

Publication types

  • Review

Grants and funding

This work was supported from the Alcoa Foundation (2019:223136) is gratefully acknowledged. Open access funding provided by NTNU Norwegian University of Science and Technology (incl St. Olavs Hospital—Trondheim University Hospital).