Environment-friendly copper-based chalcogenide thin film solar cells: status and perspectives.

Copper chalcogenides (CuCh) have attracted considerable attention due to their promising potential as environmental-friendly photoactive material for lightweight and flexible thin film solar cells. Further, CuCh can be fabricated from simple to complex chemical compositions and offer a remarkable charge carrier mobility and excellent absorption coefficient with a desirable bandgap (up to ∼1.0 eV). Currently, they have demonstrated maximum power conversion efficiencies of over 23% for single-junction, around 25% and 28% for monolithic 2-Terminal (2T) and mechanically-stacked 4-Terminal (4T) perovskite/CuCh tandem solar cells, respectively. This article presents an overview of CuCh-based materials, from binary- to quaternary-CuCh compounds for single- and multi-junction solar cells. Then, we discuss the development of fabrication methods and the approaches taken to improve the performance of CuCh-based thin film itself, including chemical doping, the development of complement layers, and their potential application in flexible and lightweight devices. Finally, these technologies' stability, scalability, and toxicity aspects are discussed to enhance their current marketability.

Catalytic Liquid-Phase Oxidation of Phenolic Compounds Using Ceria-Zirconia Based Catalysts.

Catalytic liquid-phase oxidation using a catalyst and oxygen gas (Catalytic wet air oxidation, CWAO) is one of the most promising technology to remove hazardous organic compounds in wastewater. Up to now, various heterogeneous catalysts have been reported for phenolic compounds decomposition. The CeO2-ZrO2 based catalysts have been recently studied, because CeO2-ZrO2 works as a promoter which supplies active oxygen species from inside the lattice to the active sites. Since it is difficult to dissolve oxygen gas into water, the use of the promoter is effective for realizing the high catalytic activity at moderate conditions. Also, CeO2-ZrO2 shows high resistance for the metal leaching during the catalytic reaction in the liquid-phase. This article reviews the studies of the catalytic liquid-phase oxidation of phenolic compounds using CeO2-ZrO2 based catalysts.