Ternary Strategy and Molecular Electrostatics Collaboratively Optimize Low‐Molecular‐Weight Polymer Donor Organic Solar Cells: Over 20% Efficiency and High Scalability

Achieving consistent performance across polymer donor batches is crucial for the commercialization of organic solar cells (OSCs). Compared with high-molecular-weight PM6 (HWPM6), low-molecular-weight PM6 (LWPM6) has lower efficiency but better stress-dispersion characteristics and solution-processability, making its performance improvement vital for practical applications. Here, LWPM6-based OSCs are optimized by introducing a trimeric guest (TYT-S). TYT-S improves PM6:Y6 compatibility, achieving a finer phase separation and a favorable interpenetrating network morphology. A ternary strategy, leveraging molecular electrostatic potential differences, promotes LWPM6 pre-aggregation, extends film-formation time, and enhances molecular ordering. The LWPM6-based ternary system exhibits an optimized vertical phase distribution, with maximum exciton dissociation occurring near the cathode, resulting in a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 19.23% (LWPM6-based binary with a low PCE of 17.35%). When BTP-eC9 replaces Y6, the LWPM6-based ternary devices achieve a PCE of 20.12% (LWPM6-based binary with a low PCE of 17.64%). Additionally, LW polymers can dissipate stress via segmental motion. After 3000 bending cycles, LWPM6-based flexible devices retain higher initial efficiency than HWPM6-based one, demonstrating better mechanical stability. In mini-modules, they also have good solution-processability. This work demonstrates that a trimer guest strategy can significantly enhance the photovoltaic performance of low-efficiency LWPM6, offering new insights for OSCs commercialization.

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Publication Details

Journal
Advanced Materials
Published
2025-08-16
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202510980
Citations
12
Primary Topic
Organic Electronics and Photovoltaics
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
8.77

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article

Ternary Strategy and Molecular Electrostatics Collaboratively Optimize Low‐Molecular‐Weight Polymer Donor Organic Solar Cells: Over 20% Efficiency and High Scalability

Jie Min, Yongmin Luo, Shouchun Yin, Weifei Fu et al.
12 citations
Advanced Materials
Organic Electronics and Photovoltaics
8.77
article

Ternary Strategy and Molecular Electrostatics Collaboratively Optimize Low‐Molecular‐Weight Polymer Donor Organic Solar Cells: Over 20% Efficiency and High Scalability

Jie Min, Yongmin Luo, Shouchun Yin, Weifei Fu, Hongzheng Chen, Jiaying Wu, Hanlin Hu, Lingling Zhan, Jinyang Yu, Adiljan Wupur, Yuhao Liu, Xiaoling Wu, Tianyi Chen, Xiaokang Sun, Wei Lu, Hong‐Yang Lu, Rui Sun, Yaxin Yang
article en
12 citations

Abstract

Achieving consistent performance across polymer donor batches is crucial for the commercialization of organic solar cells (OSCs). Compared with high-molecular-weight PM6 (HWPM6), low-molecular-weight PM6 (LWPM6) has lower efficiency but better stress-dispersion characteristics and solution-processability, making its performance improvement vital for practical applications. Here, LWPM6-based OSCs are optimized by introducing a trimeric guest (TYT-S). TYT-S improves PM6:Y6 compatibility, achieving a finer phase separation and a favorable interpenetrating network morphology. A ternary strategy, leveraging molecular electrostatic potential differences, promotes LWPM6 pre-aggregation, extends film-formation time, and enhances molecular ordering. The LWPM6-based ternary system exhibits an optimized vertical phase distribution, with maximum exciton dissociation occurring near the cathode, resulting in a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 19.23% (LWPM6-based binary with a low PCE of 17.35%). When BTP-eC9 replaces Y6, the LWPM6-based ternary devices achieve a PCE of 20.12% (LWPM6-based binary with a low PCE of 17.64%). Additionally, LW polymers can dissipate stress via segmental motion. After 3000 bending cycles, LWPM6-based flexible devices retain higher initial efficiency than HWPM6-based one, demonstrating better mechanical stability. In mini-modules, they also have good solution-processability. This work demonstrates that a trimer guest strategy can significantly enhance the photovoltaic performance of low-efficiency LWPM6, offering new insights for OSCs commercialization.

Advanced MaterialsVol. 37(44)
Hangzhou Normal University (CN), Zhejiang University of Science and Technology (CN), Shenzhen Polytechnic University (CN), Wuhan University (CN), Guangzhou University (CN), Zhejiang Lab (CN), Zhejiang University (CN), University of Hong Kong (HK)
National Natural Science Foundation of China, Hangzhou Normal University, Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province
Affordable and clean energy
Openalex Percentile: Top 2%
Organic Electronics and Photovoltaics
8.77
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