journal article·2026-04-06

Cyclohexyl Conformational Locking Strategy: Molecular Assembly Engineering in Nonfused Acceptors for High-Efficiency Organic Solar Cells

Meijia Chang, Jinwei Chen, Yuanyuan Zhang, Shijie Cheng, Xinbo Lv, Wenjie Tian, Na Li, Yonggang Wang, Lei Wang, Huanhuan Gao, Zirui Wang, Guanghao Lu, Yamin Zhang, Lingxian Meng

ACS Materials Letters· Volume 8· Issue 4
Publisher page

Abstract

Improving the conformational stability and regulating molecular assembly behavior are essential for developing high-efficiency and low-cost nonfused ring electron acceptors (NFREAs). Bulky side chains offer an effective approach to restrict the free rotation of carbon–carbon (C–C) single bonds but remain limited in structural diversity and synthetic accessibility, leaving room for further optimization of material costs. Herein, we report two NFREAs (UF-CHex-2F and UF-CHexC3-2F) through the rational design of cyclohexyl-derived bulky side chains. The intrinsically stable chair conformation of cyclohexyl furnishes steric hindrance while preventing side-chain disorder. This cyclohexyl conformational locking strategy stabilizes the backbone and regulates molecular assembly behaviors. Consequently, the PBQx-TF:UF-CHexC3–2F based blend film forms an ordered stacking property and nanoscale phase separation morphology, facilitating efficient exciton diffusion and charge transport. The corresponding devices obtained a high power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 15.42%, demonstrating the valuable insight into simple bulky side chains to meet the commercial application requirements of OSCs.
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Research context

OpenAlex topics: Organic Electronics and Photovoltaics · Synthesis and Properties of Aromatic Compounds · Molecular Junctions and Nanostructures

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

Affiliations

School of Energy and Chemical Engineering, Henan Key Laboratory of Green Building Materials Manufacturing and Intelligent Equipment

Luoyang Institute of Science and Technology

College of New Energy

Xi’an Shiyou University

School of Materials Science and Engineering

Zhengzhou University

Shandong University of Technology, Shandong Key Laboratory of Functional-Structural Integrated Ceramics, Discipline and Technology Center for High Temperature Functional Ceramics

Frontier Institute of Science and Technology

Xi’an Jiaotong University

State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry (SKLAOC), Key Laboratory of Special Function Materials and Structure Design (MOE), College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering

Lanzhou University

Funding

Natural Science Foundation of Henan Province · Postdoctoral Research Foundation of China · National Postdoctoral Program for Innovative Talents · Science and Technology Innovation Talents in Universities of Henan Province · Science and Technology Department of Henan Province · National Natural Science Foundation of China · Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province · Chunhui Project Foundation of the Education Department of China · Henan Provincial Science and Technology Research and Development Program Joint Fund · Henan Provincial Training Program for Young Backbone Teachers in Higher Education Institutions

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