Because of the increasing demand for photovoltaic energy and the generation of end-of-life
photovoltaic waste forecast, the feasibility to produce glass substrates for photovoltaic application
by recycling photovoltaic glass waste (PVWG) material was analyzed. PVWG was recovered from
photovoltaic house roof panels for developing windows glass substrates; PVWG was used as the main
material mixed with other industrial waste materials (wSG). The glass was casted by air quenching,
annealed, and polished to obtain transparent substrates samples. Fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) was
deposited as back contact on the glass substrates by spray pyrolysis. The chemical composition of the
glass materials was evaluated by X-ray fluorescence (XRF), the thermal stability was measured by
differential thermal analysis (DTA) and the transmittance was determined by UV-VIS spectroscopy.
The surface of the glass substrates and the deposited FTO were observed by scanning electron
microscopy (SEM), the amorphous or crystalline state of the specimens were determined by X-ray
diffraction (XRD) and the sheet resistance was evaluated by the four-point probe method. The sheet
resistance of the deposited FTO on the wSG substrate was 7.84 ± 3.11 Ω/, lower than that deposited
on commercial soda-lime glass (8.48 ± 3.67 Ω/), meaning that this material could present improved
conduction of the produced electrons by the photovoltaic effect. This process may represent an
alternative to produce glass substrates from waste materials that could be destined for photovoltaic
applications, especially the production of ecological photovoltaic windows