journal article·2026-04-28

Narrow-bandgap acceptors with low energetic disorder achieve over 21% efficiency in organic solar cells

Jing Tao, Chi Zhang, Qiming Zhao, Chenyang Tian, Jin Fang, Ailing Tang, Yao Zhao, Dingding Qiu, Hao Zhang, Huijuan Bi, Wenjun Zou, Kun Lu, Lingyun Zhu, Zhixiang Wei

Publisher page

Abstract

Narrow-bandgap acceptors are the basis for achieving high short-circuit current density in organic solar cells; however, the lack of effective strategies to reduce energy loss under narrow-bandgap systems makes it challenging to solve the trade-off of open-circuit voltage and short-circuit current density. Here an acceptor Qx-Se-NF, featuring quinoxaline (Qx) central moiety, naphthyl-based terminal group (NF), and selenium (Se)-substituted central core, is synthesized, reaching a narrow bandgap of 1.31 eV. Theoretical calculations show that Qx-Se-NF exhibits low energetic disorder, which is beneficial for reducing energy loss. Furthermore, its strong aggregation properties tend to form a unique vertically segregated alloy structure in ternary systems, which is beneficial for increasing the short-circuit current density without sacrificing the open-circuit voltage. As a result, the ternary system achieved a certified power conversion efficiency of 21.01% with a low energy loss of 0.486 eV, providing a deep insight into the design of narrow-bandgap acceptors and their ternary systems.
Source: europepmc · Quality: candidate unverified · Source record ↗

Research context

OpenAlex topics: Organic Electronics and Photovoltaics · Nanowire Synthesis and Applications · Synthesis and properties of polymers

SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.

References (56)

Show source-provided references
1. Zhu, L. et al. Achieving 20.8% organic solar cells via additive-assisted layer-by-layer fabrication with bulk p-i-n structure and improved optical management. Joule 8, 3153–3168 (2024).10.1016/j.joule.2024.08.001 ↗
2. Chen, H. et al. Organic solar cells with 20.82% efficiency and high tolerance of active layer thickness through crystallization sequence manipulation. Nat. Mater. 24, 444–453 (2025).10.1038/s41563-024-02062-0 ↗
3. Li, C. et al. Non-fullerene acceptors with high crystallinity and photoluminescence quantum yield enable >20% efficiency organic solar cells. Nat. Mater. 24, 433–443 (2025).10.1038/s41563-024-02087-5 ↗
4. Wang, L. et al. Diluted ternary heterojunctions to suppress charge recombination for organic solar cells with 21% efficiency. Adv. Mater. 37, 2419923 (2025).10.1002/adma.202419923 ↗
5. Zhang, M. et al. Efficient and stable high-entropy organic photovoltaics. Joule 9, 101851 (2025).10.1016/j.joule.2025.101851 ↗
6. Chen, C. et al. Molecular interaction induced dual fibrils towards organic solar cells with certified efficiency over 20%. Nat. Commun. 15, 6865 (2024).10.1038/s41467-024-51359-w ↗
7. Jiang, Y. et al. 20.6% efficiency organic solar cells enabled by incorporating a lower bandgap guest nonfullerene acceptor without open-circuit voltage loss. Adv. Mater. 37, 2500282 (2025).10.1002/adma.202500282 ↗
8. Song, X. et al. Low-volatility fused-ring solid additive engineering for synergistically elongating exciton lifetime and mitigating trap density toward organic solar cells of 20.5% efficiency. Adv. Mater. 37, 2418393 (2025).10.1002/adma.202418393 ↗
9. Yuan, J. et al. Enabling low voltage losses and high photocurrent in fullerene-free organic photovoltaics. Nat. Commun. 10, 570 (2019).10.1038/s41467-019-08386-9 ↗
10. Meng, D. et al. Near-infrared materials: the turning point of organic photovoltaics. Adv. Mater. 34, 2107330 (2022).10.1002/adma.202107330 ↗
11. Yang, Y. The original design principles of the Y-series nonfullerene acceptors, from Y1 to Y6. ACS Nano 15, 18679–18682 (2021).10.1021/acsnano.1c10365 ↗
12. Englman, R. & Jortner, J. The energy gap law for radiationless transitions in large molecules. Mol. Phys. 18, 145–164 (1970).10.1080/00268977000100171 ↗
13. Benduhn, J. et al. Intrinsic non-radiative voltage losses in fullerene-based organic solar cells. Nat. Energy 2, 17053 (2017).10.1038/nenergy.2017.53 ↗
14. Unger, T. et al. The impact of driving force and temperature on the electron transfer in donor-acceptor blend systems. J. Phys. Chem. C 121, 22739–22752 (2017).10.1021/acs.jpcc.7b09213 ↗
15. Zheng, Z., Tummala, N. R., Wang, T., Coropceanu, V. & Brédas, J. L. Charge-transfer states at organic-organic interfaces: impact of static and dynamic disorders. Adv. Energy Mater. 9, 1803926 (2019).10.1002/aenm.201803926 ↗
16. He, X. et al. Selenium substitution for dielectric constant improvement and hole-transfer acceleration in non-fullerene organic solar cells. Nat. Commun. 15, 2103 (2024).10.1038/s41467-024-46352-2 ↗
17. Fan, Q. et al. 19.28% efficiency and stable polymer solar cells enabled by introducing an NIR-absorbing guest acceptor. Adv. Funct. Mater. 33, 2211385 (2023).10.1002/adfm.202211385 ↗
18. Deng, M. et al. Y-type non-fullerene acceptors with outer branched side chains and inner cyclohexane side chains for 19.36% efficiency polymer solar cells. Adv. Mater. 35, 2210760 (2023).10.1002/adma.202210760 ↗
19. Zhou, Z. et al. High-efficiency small-molecule ternary solar cells with a hierarchical morphology enabled by synergizing fullerene and non-fullerene acceptors. Nat. Energy 3, 952–959 (2018).10.1038/s41560-018-0234-9 ↗
20. Sun, R. et al. Single-junction organic solar cells with 19.17% efficiency enabled by introducing one asymmetric guest acceptor. Adv. Mater. 34, 2110147 (2022.10.1002/adma.202110147 ↗
21. Shi, Y. et al. Small reorganization energy acceptors enable low energy losses in non-fullerene organic solar cells. Nat. Commun. 13, 3256 (2022).10.1038/s41467-022-30927-y ↗
22. Zhang, Z. et al. Selenium heterocyclic electron acceptor with small urbach energy for as-cast high-performance organic solar cells. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 142, 18741–18745 (2020).10.1021/jacs.0c08557 ↗
23. Yang, C. et al. Optimized crystal framework by asymmetric core isomerization in selenium-substituted acceptor for efficient binary organic solar cells. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 62, e202313016 (2023).10.1002/anie.202313016 ↗
24. Giannini, S., Cerdá, J., Prampolini, G., Santoro, F. & Beljonne, D. Dissecting the nature and dynamics of electronic excitations in a solid-state aggregate of a representative non-fullerene acceptor. J. Mater. Chem. C 12, 10009–10028 (2024).10.1039/D4TC01716A ↗
25. Yan, J., Rezasoltani, E., Azzouzi, M., Eisner, F. & Nelson, J. Influence of static disorder of charge transfer state on voltage loss in organic photovoltaics. Nat. Commun. 12, 3642 (2021).10.1038/s41467-021-23975-3 ↗
26. Burke, T. M., Sweetnam, S., Vandewal, K. & McGehee, M. D. Beyond langevin recombination: how equilibrium between free carriers and charge transfer states determines the open-circuit voltage of organic solar cells. Adv. Energy Mater. 5, 1500123 (2015).10.1002/aenm.201500123 ↗
27. Xie, M., Wei, Z. & Lu, K. Quinoxaline-based Y-type acceptors for organic solar cells. Chem. Sci. 15, 8265–8279 (2024).10.1039/D4SC01481B ↗
28. Liu, J. et al. Fast charge separation in a non-fullerene organic solar cell with a small driving force. Nat. Energy 1, 16089 (2016).10.1038/nenergy.2016.89 ↗
29. Fu, J. et al. Rational molecular and device design enables organic solar cells approaching 20% efficiency. Nat. Commun. 15, 1830 (2024).10.1038/s41467-024-46022-3 ↗
30. Ding, P. et al. U-shaped dimeric acceptors for balancing efficiency and stability in organic solar cells. Adv. Mater. 37, 2414080 (2024).10.1002/adma.202414080 ↗
31. Chen, Z. et al. 20.2% efficiency organic photovoltaics employing a π-extension quinoxaline-based acceptor with ordered arrangement. Adv. Mater. 36, 2406690 (2024).10.1002/adma.202406690 ↗
32. Rong, H. et al. Reducing the trade-off between charge generation and nonradiative voltage loss via asymmetric strategy enables binary organic solar cells over 19.5%. ACS Energy Lett. 10, 393–402 (2024).10.1021/acsenergylett.4c03168 ↗
33. Xie, L. et al. Modulation of crystallization kinetics using a guest acceptor for high-performance organic solar cells with 19.8% efficiency. Energy Environ. Sci. 17, 7838–7849 (2024).10.1039/D4EE02657H ↗
34. Li, Y. et al. Hybrid central substitution of acceptor boosts efficient near-infrared organic photovoltaics. J. Mater. Chem. A 13, 12339–12348 (2025).10.1039/D5TA00677E ↗
35. He, H. et al. Dynamic hydrogen-bonding enables high-performance and mechanically robust organic solar cells processed with non-halogenated solvent. Nat. Commun. 16, 787 (2025).10.1038/s41467-024-55375-8 ↗
36. Tessler, N. Adding 0.2V to the open circuit voltage of organic solar cells by enhancing the built-in potential. J. Appl. Phys. 118, 215501 (2015).10.1063/1.4936367 ↗
37. Ji, R. et al. Perovskite phase heterojunction solar cells. Nat. Energy 7, 1170–1179 (2022).10.1038/s41560-022-01154-y ↗
38. Wen, L. et al. Achieving desired pseudo-planar heterojunction organic solar cells via binary-dilution strategy. Adv. Mater. 36, 2308159 (2024).10.1002/adma.202308159 ↗
39. Polman, A., Knight, M., Garnett, E. C., Ehrler, B. & Sinke, W. C. Photovoltaic materials: present efficiencies and future challenges. Science 352, 4424 (2016).10.1126/science.aad4424 ↗
40. Jiang, Y. et al. Non-fullerene acceptor with asymmetric structure and phenyl-substituted alkyl side chain for 20.2% efficiency organic solar cells. Nat. Energy 9, 975–986 (2024).10.1038/s41560-024-01557-z ↗
41. Nam, M. et al. Long-term efficient organic photovoltaics based on quaternary bulk heterojunctions. Nat. Commun. 8, 14068 (2017).10.1038/ncomms14068 ↗
42. Zhang, Y. et al. Achieving 19.4% organic solar cell via an in situ formation of p-i-n structure with built-in interpenetrating network. Joule 8, 509–526 (2024).10.1016/j.joule.2023.12.009 ↗
43. Gao, Y. et al. All-small-molecule organic solar cells with 18.1% efficiency and enhanced stability enabled by improving light harvesting and nanoscale microstructure. Joule 7, 2845–2858 (2023).10.1016/j.joule.2023.10.006 ↗
44. Wu, X. et al. Inner side chain modification of small molecule acceptors enables lower energy loss and high efficiency of organic solar cells processed with non-halogenated solvents. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 64, e202416016 (2025).10.1002/anie.202416016 ↗
45. Zhang, Z. et al. Synchronous regulation of donor and acceptor microstructure using thiophene-derived non-halogenated solvent additives for efficient and stable organic solar cells. Adv. Funct. Mater. 34, 2401823 (2024).10.1002/adfm.202401823 ↗
46. Zhang, R. et al. Equally high efficiencies of organic solar cells processed from different solvents reveal key factors for morphology control. Nat. Energy 10, 124–134 (2024).10.1038/s41560-024-01678-5 ↗
47. Song, J. et al. Non-halogenated solvent-processed organic solar cells with approaching 20% efficiency and improved photostability. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 63, e202404297 (2024).10.1002/anie.202404297 ↗
48. Luo, Z. et al. Approaching 20% efficiency in ortho-xylene processed organic solar cells by a benzo[a]phenazine-core-based 3D network acceptor with large electronic coupling and long exciton diffusion length. Adv. Mater. 36, 2407517 (2024).10.1002/adma.202407517 ↗
49. Jia, Z. et al. Eco-friendly volatile additive enabling efficient large-area organic photovoltaic module processed with non-halogenated solvent. Energy Environ. Sci. 17, 3908–3916 (2024).10.1039/D4EE01405G ↗
50. Gao, W. et al. Efficient all-small-molecule organic solar cells processed with non-halogen solvent. Nat. Commun. 15, 1946 (2024).10.1038/s41467-024-46144-8 ↗
51. Chen, H. et al. Heterogeneous nucleating agent for high-boiling-point nonhalogenated solvent-processed organic solar cells and modules. Adv. Mater. 36, 2402350 (2024).10.1002/adma.202402350 ↗
52. Zhuo, H. et al. Giant molecule acceptor enables highly efficient organic solar cells processed using non-halogenated solvent. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 62, e202303551 (2023).10.1002/anie.202303551 ↗
53. Luo, S. et al. Auxiliary sequential deposition enables 19%-efficiency organic solar cells processed from halogen-free solvents. Nat. Commun. 14, 6964 (2023).10.1038/s41467-023-41978-0 ↗
54. Hess, B., Kutzner, C., van der Spoel, D. & Lindahl, E. GROMACS 4: algorithms for highly efficient, load-balanced, and scalable molecular simulation. J. Chem. Theory Comput. 4, 435–447 (2008).10.1021/ct700301q ↗
55. Bayly, C. I., Cieplak, P., Cornell, W. & Kollman, P. A. A well-behaved electrostatic potential based method using charge restraints for deriving atomic charges: the RESP model. J. Phys. Chem. 97, 10269–10280 (1993).10.1021/j100142a004 ↗
56. Grimme, S., Antony, J., Ehrlich, S. & Krieg, H. A consistent and accurate ab initio parametrization of density functional dispersion correction (DFT-D) for the 94 elements H-Pu. J. Chem. Phys. 132, 154104 (2010).10.1063/1.3382344 ↗