Researchers from the University of New England (UNE) Australian Institute for Strategic Artificial Intelligence (ISA) are using artificial intelligence (AI) and powerful supercomputers to find methods to enable recycling of silicon wafers with minimal contamination.
Currently the most valuable component of a solar panel, silicon cannot be recycled to its original purity, given the use of substrate that prevents it from degrading in sunlight over a solar panel’s lifetime.
Hoping to identify potential molecular formulations for solvents that could achieve clean silicon separation from wafers the researchers are working with AI-driven quantum chemical simulations to evaluate chemical efficacy, flag new pathways and move onto new computations.
UNE Computational Chemist Dr Kasimir Gregory said its now possible to predict how these panels can be disassembled at the molecular level.
“These technologies are giving an exponential boost to the process of scientific discovery,” Gregory said.
Research colleague and ISA Director Professor Amir Karton said the team has efficiently created an effective feedback loop between AI-driven predictions and experimental observations.
“This allows us to actively steer the experimental discovery of optimal recycling pathways at unprecedented speeds,” Karton said.
Robotic laboratory
Assisted with a $2.7 million (USD 1.9 million) Australian Research Council (ARC)-funded automated robotic laboratory shared by several institutions, the lab can physically produce the solvents/materials identified by the AI-driven simulations.
It can then test them in real-world experiments, powered by agentic AI (autonomous AI agents capable of independently running experiments and managing workflows with minimal human intervention).
The agents are also working 24/7 reducing the development time from years to months.
Image: ACEN
ACEN
The research has attracted the support of Philippines-headquatered renewables developer ACEN Australia, which is providing panels from its 720 MW New England Solar Project, near Uralla in the NSW Northern Tablelands.
Managing Director David Pollington said its recently-opened Stubbo Solar project is the first large-scale project to achieve Circular PV Alliance certification – “and the UNE research is an important step in further improving the effectiveness and efficiencies of recycling processes.”
“We are also committed to supporting the regions in which we operate, so we’re extra excited that this industry-leading research is happening right here in the New England,” Pollington said.
Solar waste
At the start of 2025, the world had installed more than 2 TW of total solar energy generation capacity, which is predicted by 2030 to increase 1 TW of solar generation capacity per year.
The cumulative volume of end-of-life solar panels Australia is expected to reach one million tonnes by 2035, with a material value within these panels projected to exceed $1 billion.
“It is not practical to ship thousands of tonnes of solar waste across the country for processing,” Karton said.
“The University has a strategic focus on ensuring the renewables rollout here provides maximum benefit to the region while it benefits the nation.”
“New technologies are making it possible for us to apply world-class methods to these challenges, not as some distant abstract issue, but in support of an energy revolution that is almost literally taking place in our backyards,” he said.
Institute for Strategic Articial Intelligence
On 7 May 2026 the UNE also launched the Institute for Strategic Artificial Intelligence (ISA), operating within UNE’s LabNext70 – Australia’s first purpose-built AI research and delivery hub focused on education.
The institute will work across diverse fields including materials science, education transformation, geopolitical analysis and strategic decision-making.
The institute is co-directed by Associate Professor Aaron Driver, UNE’s Chief AI Officer and Director of LabNext70.
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