Impact of Hydrochloric Acid (HCl) Treatment on Diatomite Purity and Structural Modifications for Advanced Photovoltaic Applications

Our work focused to prepare diatomite-silica that can be reduced to silicon, Algerian diatomite was synthesized through a chemical method. This research aimed to study the influence of acid treatment and grinding on diatomite’s impurity level. An analysis of the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) showed a decrease in the concentration of impurities in the diatomite. A hydrochloric acid (HCl) concentration that’s 4 mol/L resulted into a soft leaching of most organics such as carbon, but still retained impurities. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis also confirmed that the chemical configuration of SiO2 was barely altered. In comparison, grinding led to an invasion of diatomite by impurities and to structural disorders. These findings are relevant for encouraging work on purification steps which facilitate the extraction of non-pertaining silica while producing solar silicon for solar cells.