Solvent-Induced Polymorphism Influences Efficiency in Organic Solar Cells
Understanding and mitigating performance variability are important for developing organic photovoltaics (OPVs), which are often governed by solid-state organization of molecular entities in semiconductor thin films. This is why achieving structural resolution is essential. This study demonstrates how often-hidden structural polymorphism profoundly influences the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of bulk heterojunction (BHJ) OPVs. The devices consisting of PM6:Y6 BHJ layers cast from low-boiling chloroform (CF; PCE ≈ 15%) and high-boiling o-xylene solvents (o-XY; PCE ≈ 10%) exhibit morphology-dependent optical absorption, charge transport, and recombination dynamics. A synergistic multimodal characterization combined with device physics reveals that the retention of solvents and additives leads to polymorphous BHJ layers, contributing to performance variation. These results strengthen the conclusion that green solvent selection should be guided not only by environmental considerations but also by a thorough understanding of structure–property interrelations, which are vital for improving material performance in OPVs.
Authors
- G. N. Manjunatha Reddy (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8283-2462)
- Zhifang Du (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6814-8317)
- Yunpeng Qin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4735-8002)
- Parth Raval (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2991-4490)
- Tomasz Pawlak (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0350-6395)
- Sangcheol Yoon
- Thuc‐Quyen Nguyen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8364-7517)
- Sam Mugiraneza
- Yunyan Lai
- Ahra Yi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2001-2829)
- Vũ Văn Đoán (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5229-0829)
- Zhong‐Ze Qu
- Harald W. Ade (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1853-5471)
- Sangmin Chae (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0655-7577)
- Hyo Jung Kim (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9725-8598)
- S. Mukherjee (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5479-3750)
- Neethu Thomas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8328-8297)
- Steven Xiao
- Braulio Reyes-Suárez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-0602-7577)
- Jordan Fishburn
- Rushil Vasant
Institutions
- North Carolina State University (US)
- University of California, Santa Barbara (US)
- Université de Lille (FR)
- University of California System (US)
- Institute of Polymers (BG)
- Institute of Organic Chemistry (PL)
- Wallace Laboratories (US)
- Institute of Organic Chemistry (HU)
- Centrum Badań Molekularnych i Makromolekularnych Polskiej Akademii Nauk (PL)
- Université d'Artois (FR)
- Pusan National University (KR)
- Polish Academy of Sciences (PL)
Publication Details
- Journal
- ACS Energy Letters
- Published
- 2025-09-12
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1021/acsenergylett.5c01692
- Citations
- 4
- Primary Topic
- Organic Electronics and Photovoltaics
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 2.92