High‐Efficiency Organic Solar Cells Enabled by Siloxane‐Functionalized Pyrazine Terpolymers: Synergizing Performance, Morphology Control, and Non‐Halogenated Solvent Processability

Balancing high performance, morphological controllability, and compatibility with non-halogenated solvent processing remains a critical bottleneck for scalable and sustainable organic solar cells (OSCs). Herein, we address this challenge via rational terpolymer design: integrating a siloxane-functionalized electron-deficient pyrazine unit (DTCPz-SiO) into the benchmark D18 backbone, with the optimized terpolymer DN1 containing 5 mol% DTCPz-SiO. DTCPz-SiO imparts two key synergies: (i) enhanced conformational rigidity and intramolecular noncovalent interactions (N···S, N···H), which improve backbone planarity, strengthen π-π stacking, and accelerate crystallization; (ii) synergistic regulation of donor-acceptor miscibility and compatibility with non-halogenated solvents. These effects collectively enable a well-optimized bulk-heterojunction morphology with enhanced molecular ordering and charge dynamics. Consequently, DN1-based binary devices deliver a significantly improved power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 20.1% compared to 18.7% for the parent polymer, together with a broadened processing window. Notably, high efficiencies of ∼19.5% are retained under common non-halogenated processing conditions. Furthermore, DN1-based ternary OSCs enhance PCE to outstanding values of 20.9% and 20.0% under chlorinated and non-halogenated processing conditions, respectively, among the highest efficiencies reported for single-junction OSCs. Overall, this work establishes siloxane-functionalized terpolymers as an effective molecular design strategy for regulating multi-scale morphology and processing tolerance, providing new insights for the development of scalable OSC systems.

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Journal
Advanced Materials
Published
2026-05-21
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202522228
Primary Topic
Organic Electronics and Photovoltaics
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

High‐Efficiency Organic Solar Cells Enabled by Siloxane‐Functionalized Pyrazine Terpolymers: Synergizing Performance, Morphology Control, and Non‐Halogenated Solvent Processability

Yumiao Huo, Leandro R. Franco, Lixuan Kan, Wenwen Hou et al.
Advanced Materials
Organic Electronics and Photovoltaics
article

High‐Efficiency Organic Solar Cells Enabled by Siloxane‐Functionalized Pyrazine Terpolymers: Synergizing Performance, Morphology Control, and Non‐Halogenated Solvent Processability

Yumiao Huo, Leandro R. Franco, Lixuan Kan, Wenwen Hou, Jingnan Wu, Maojie Zhang, Fengbo Sun, Ergang Wang, Yongfang Li, Xia Guo, Jun Sun, Hao Wang, Xinxin Xia, Feng Liu, Chenyu Han, Bo Cheng
article en

Abstract

Balancing high performance, morphological controllability, and compatibility with non-halogenated solvent processing remains a critical bottleneck for scalable and sustainable organic solar cells (OSCs). Herein, we address this challenge via rational terpolymer design: integrating a siloxane-functionalized electron-deficient pyrazine unit (DTCPz-SiO) into the benchmark D18 backbone, with the optimized terpolymer DN1 containing 5 mol% DTCPz-SiO. DTCPz-SiO imparts two key synergies: (i) enhanced conformational rigidity and intramolecular noncovalent interactions (N···S, N···H), which improve backbone planarity, strengthen π-π stacking, and accelerate crystallization; (ii) synergistic regulation of donor-acceptor miscibility and compatibility with non-halogenated solvents. These effects collectively enable a well-optimized bulk-heterojunction morphology with enhanced molecular ordering and charge dynamics. Consequently, DN1-based binary devices deliver a significantly improved power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 20.1% compared to 18.7% for the parent polymer, together with a broadened processing window. Notably, high efficiencies of ∼19.5% are retained under common non-halogenated processing conditions. Furthermore, DN1-based ternary OSCs enhance PCE to outstanding values of 20.9% and 20.0% under chlorinated and non-halogenated processing conditions, respectively, among the highest efficiencies reported for single-junction OSCs. Overall, this work establishes siloxane-functionalized terpolymers as an effective molecular design strategy for regulating multi-scale morphology and processing tolerance, providing new insights for the development of scalable OSC systems.

Advanced Materials
Shandong University (CN), Shanghai Mental Health Center (CN), Soochow University (CN), Chalmers University of Technology (SE)
Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province
Responsible consumption and production
Openalex Percentile: Top 9%
Organic Electronics and Photovoltaics
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