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Human urine is universal unused waste material that is regularly disposed of by the human body. We, for the first time, presented an economically beneficial, sustainable, and novel route to synthesize mesoporous human urine carbon (HUC)-containing heteroatoms, i.e., C, Na, Cl, N, S, and P, using a human urine waste. The as-synthesized HUC were envisaged for their structural elucidation, morphology evolution, crystal structure, functional bonding, and elemental composition analyses through various sophisticated technologies. The HUC catalyst had a moderately crystalline nature due to the graphitic phase of carbon with a particle size of 20–50 nm, which was successfully used to synthesizing chromenes, 1,8-di-oxo-octahydroxanthenes, and benzypyrazolylcoumarin and biscoumarin derivatives through a one-pot multicomponent reaction with 20 mg of catalyst in EtOH/H2O solvent. This eco-friendly and simple method offers numerous advantages such as easy purification, clean reaction, and excellent yield for organic synthesis. The HUC catalyst can be recycled ten times and reused multiple times after activation without affecting catalytic performance.

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Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are advancing rapidly and have reached a performance comparable to that of silicon solar cells. Recently, they have been expanding into a variety of applications based on the excellent photoelectric properties of perovskite. Semi-transparent PSCs (ST-PSCs) are one promising application that utilizes the tunable transmittance of perovskite photoactive layers, which can be used in tandem solar cells (TSC) and building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV). However, the inverse relationship between light transmittance and efficiency is a challenge in the development of ST-PSCs. To overcome these challenges, numerous studies are underway, including those on band-gap tuning, high-performance charge transport layers and electrodes, and creating island-shaped microstructures. This review provides a general and concise summary of the innovative approaches in ST-PSCs, including advances in the perovskite photoactive layer, transparent electrodes, device structures and their applications in TSC and BIPV. Furthermore, the essential requirements and challenges to be addressed to realize ST-PSCs are discussed, and the prospects of ST-PSCs are presented.

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) emerged as potential photovoltaic energy-generating devices developing in recent years because of their excellent photovoltaic properties and ease of processing. However, PSCs are still reporting efficiencies much lower than their theoretical limits owing to various losses caused by the charge transport layer and the perovskite. In this regard, herein, an interface engineering strategy using functional molecules and chemical bridges was applied to reduce the loss of the heterojunction electron transport layer. As a functional interface layer, ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) was introduced between PCBM and the ZnO layer, and as a result, EDTA simultaneously formed chemical bonds with PCBM and ZnO to serve as a chemical bridge connecting the two. DFT and chemical analyses revealed that EDTA can act as a chemical bridge between PCBM and ZnO, passivate defect sites, and improve charge transfer. Optoelectrical analysis proved that EDTA chemical bridge-mediated charge transfer (CBM-CT) provides more efficient interfacial charge transport by reducing trap-assisted recombination losses at ETL interfaces, thereby improving device performance. The PSC with EDTA chemical bridge-mediated heterojunction ETL exhibited a high PCE of 21.21%, almost no hysteresis, and excellent stability to both air and light.

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs), which debuted with a lot of attention based on high efficiency, are establishing as one of the most promising thin‐film photovoltaic technologies. Currently, research for upscaling and commercialization through eco‐friendly solvent and process systems is being attempted. This study introduces for the first time a rheological engineering‐based locally supersaturated perovskite ink (LSPI) strategy for slot‐die process‐based PSC fabrication suitable for roll‐to‐roll continuous processes. Here, for the greenable slot‐die process, a perovskite precursor ink composed of a low‐toxic dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) single solvent is used and a small amount of 1,2‐dichlorobenzene (DCB) is utilized as a modulator to control the rheological properties of the ink. The addition of DCB lowers the high surface tension of the DMSO‐based perovskite precursor ink to suit the slot‐die process, enabling uniform wet film formation, and produces locally supersaturated colloids, i.e., perovskite seeds, that help growth into dense and large grains by heterogeneous nucleation with low Gibbs‐free energy. As a result, the LSPI enables slot‐die coating‐based PSCs with an efficiency of 20.61% (active areas of 0.1 cm2), which allow high efficiencies of 18.66% and 17.66% (active areas of 2.7 and 8.64 cm2) to be achieved in scale‐up to minimodules, respectively.

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