Regulating Donor Aggregation Structures via Main‐Chain Engineering to Enable High‐Performance and Mechanically Stable All‐Polymer Solar Cells

ABSTRACT Controlling the aggregation behavior of conjugated polymers is crucial for optimizing the morphology and performance of all‐polymer solar cells (all‐PSCs), yet achieving precise regulation remains a formidable challenge due to the complex self‐assembly of polymers in solution. Herein, we report a series of bithiophene imide‐based terpolymer donors (OH1 to OH4) with systematically increased thiophene π‐bridge content to modulate solution‐state aggregation. Increasing the π‐bridge content progressively enhances aggregation, leading to improved molecular ordering and a favorable fibrous network morphology in blend films. The optimized OH4:PY‐IT blend achieves a remarkable power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 19.25% in binary all‐PSCs—among the highest reported to date. Moreover, both intrinsically stretchable and flexible devices based on OH4:PY‐IT exhibit superior mechanical durability, retaining 85.3% of initial PCE after 200 deformation cycles under 10% strain and 80.1% after 7000 bending cycles, while achieving high PCEs of 14.47% and 15.63%, respectively. This work establishes π‐bridge main chain engineering as a powerful strategy to control polymer aggregation and morphology, providing key insights for developing efficient and mechanically robust all‐PSCs.

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Publication Details

Journal
Advanced Functional Materials
Published
2026-05-01
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.75693
Primary Topic
Organic Electronics and Photovoltaics
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Regulating Donor Aggregation Structures via Main‐Chain Engineering to Enable High‐Performance and Mechanically Stable All‐Polymer Solar Cells

Junyi Lu, Ivan S. Zhidkov, Han Sun, Jiayi Deng et al.
Advanced Functional Materials
Organic Electronics and Photovoltaics
article

Regulating Donor Aggregation Structures via Main‐Chain Engineering to Enable High‐Performance and Mechanically Stable All‐Polymer Solar Cells

Junyi Lu, Ivan S. Zhidkov, Han Sun, Jiayi Deng, Jong Bin Park, Li Niu, Ernst Z. Kurmaev, Junwu Chen, Qingqing Bai, Zhi Xing, Pei Cheng, Zinuo Luo, Mingqing Chen, Guangye Zhang, Han Young Woo, Henan Li
article en

Abstract

ABSTRACT Controlling the aggregation behavior of conjugated polymers is crucial for optimizing the morphology and performance of all‐polymer solar cells (all‐PSCs), yet achieving precise regulation remains a formidable challenge due to the complex self‐assembly of polymers in solution. Herein, we report a series of bithiophene imide‐based terpolymer donors (OH1 to OH4) with systematically increased thiophene π‐bridge content to modulate solution‐state aggregation. Increasing the π‐bridge content progressively enhances aggregation, leading to improved molecular ordering and a favorable fibrous network morphology in blend films. The optimized OH4:PY‐IT blend achieves a remarkable power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 19.25% in binary all‐PSCs—among the highest reported to date. Moreover, both intrinsically stretchable and flexible devices based on OH4:PY‐IT exhibit superior mechanical durability, retaining 85.3% of initial PCE after 200 deformation cycles under 10% strain and 80.1% after 7000 bending cycles, while achieving high PCEs of 14.47% and 15.63%, respectively. This work establishes π‐bridge main chain engineering as a powerful strategy to control polymer aggregation and morphology, providing key insights for developing efficient and mechanically robust all‐PSCs.

Advanced Functional Materials
Ural Federal University (RU), Korea University (KR), Guangzhou University (CN), Beijing Solar Energy Research Institute (CN), Gannan Normal University (CN), Shenzhen Technology University (CN), South China University of Technology (CN)
National Natural Science Foundation of China
Openalex Percentile: Top 11%
Organic Electronics and Photovoltaics
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