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.
Authors
- Jie Min (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0447-3764)
- Yongmin Luo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-0483-454X)
- Shouchun Yin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1086-1755)
- Weifei Fu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8640-8178)
- Hongzheng Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5922-9550)
- Jiaying Wu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8708-9743)
- Hanlin Hu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5617-0998)
- Lingling Zhan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2684-8475)
- Jinyang Yu
- Adiljan Wupur
- Yuhao Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7281-2126)
- Xiaoling Wu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3228-0647)
- Tianyi Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-7982-1642)
- Xiaokang Sun (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0402-7342)
- Wei Lu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6614-8727)
- Hong‐Yang Lu
- Rui Sun (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-1070-0712)
- Yaxin Yang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-5732-0086)
Institutions
- 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)
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
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Hangzhou Normal University
- Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province