Recovering fluorine from end-of-life products is crucial for the sustainable production and consumption of fluorine-containing compounds because fluorspar, an important natural resource for fluorine, is currently at a supply risk. In this study, we investigated the feasibility of chemically recycling a fluorine-containing photovoltaic (PV) backsheet for fluoropolymer recycling. Herein, a PV backsheet consisting of laminated polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) was treated with different concentrations of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) to hydrolyze the PET layer to water-soluble sodium terephthalate (Na₂TP) and to separate pure PVDF layer as a solid material. Optimized alkaline conditions (up to 10 M NaOH at 100 °C for 2 h) were determined, under which 87% of the PET layer could be decomposed without any significant deterioration of the PVDF layer. The hydrolysis kinetics of PET layer in NaOH could be explained by the modified shrinking-core model. Considering that the mass of end-of-life PV panels in Japan is estimated to increase to approximately 280,000 tons per year by 2036, PV backsheets are attractive candidates for fluoropolymer recycling, which can be effectively achieved using chemical recycling approach demonstrated in this study.

从报废产品中回收氟对于含氟化合物的可持续生产和消费至关重要，因为萤石是一种重要的氟自然资源，目前正面临供应风险。在这项研究中，我们研究了化学回收含氟光伏 (PV) 背板以回收含氟聚合物的可行性。在此，将由层压聚对苯二甲酸乙二醇酯 (PET) 和聚偏二氟乙烯 (PVDF) 组成的 PV 背板用不同浓度的氢氧化钠 (NaOH) 处理，以将 PET 层水解成水溶性对苯二甲酸钠 (Na ₂TP) 并将纯 PVDF 层分离为固体材料。确定了优化的碱性条件（高达 10 M NaOH，在 100 °C 下持续 2 小时），在该条件下，87% 的 PET 层可以分解，而 PVDF 层没有任何显着劣化。PET 层在 NaOH 中的水解动力学可以用改进的收缩核模型来解释。考虑到到 2036 年日本报废光伏面板的数量估计将增加到每年约 280,000 吨，光伏背板是含氟聚合物回收的有吸引力的候选材料，这可以使用本研究中展示的化学回收方法有效实现。