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US 10,072,345 B2Granted
System and method for electrorefining of silicon
AssigneeArizona Board of Regents on behalf of Arizona State University
InventorMeng Tao
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Abstract
The present disclosure provides methods and systems for electrorefining high-purity materials, for example, silicon. An exemplary system includes at least one cathode, an anode, and a reference electrode. At least one controller, for example a potentiostat, is used to control the potential difference between a reference electrode and a cathode or anode. The system can be operated in a single phase or multiple phase operation to produce high-purity materials, such as solar-grade silicon.
Claims11
A method for electrorefining of silicon, the method comprising:
- applying a first electrical potential to a silicon-containing anode with respect to a reference electrode and a first electrical current between the anode and a first cathode to cause silicon to dissolve from the anode into a molten electrolyte and to cause silicon to deposit from the molten electrolyte onto the first cathode, the molten electrolyte coupling the anode, the first cathode, and the reference electrode;
- decoupling the anode from the molten electrolyte;
- coupling a second cathode to the molten electrolyte;
- and
- applying a second electrical potential to the second cathode with respect to the reference electrode and a second electrical current between the first cathode and the second cathode to cause silicon to dissolve from the first cathode into the molten electrolyte to cause silicon to deposit from the molten electrolyte directly onto the second cathode.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.