journal article·2025-09Open access

Electronegativity‐Engineered Multidimensional Interactions Enable 20% Efficiency Organic Solar Cells

Shenbo Zhu, Yongjie Cui, Wenzhao Xiong, Cuifen Zhang, Yuanyuan Jiang, Feng Liu, Xueliang Shi, Zaifei Ma, Xiaozhang Zhu, Yaozu Liao, Huawei Hu

Advanced Energy Materials· Volume 15· Issue 35

Abstract

Abstract The innovation of Y‐series acceptors with A‐DAʹD‐A architecture has significantly advanced the efficiency of organic solar cells (OSCs). However, the role of their central electron‐deficient unit (Aʹ) in determining photovoltaic performance remains incompletely understood. Herein, Y6, AQx‐2, and Y11, which feature BT, Qx, and BTz with varying electronegativities, respectively, are selected as the research subjects. These results reveal that as the electronegativity of the Aʹ unit decreases, the porosity and molecular stacking distance in single crystal structures are gradually reduced, leading to enhanced charge carrier diffusion. Additionally, the vertical phase distribution of blend films becomes more uniform, accompanied by strengthened multidimensional interactions. Furthermore, devices based on these acceptors exhibit progressively reduced energy loss, due to the strong coupling between the charge transfer and the localized excited state. Meanwhile, the short‐circuit current initially increases and then decreases with the reduction in electronegativity. Through optimizing the electronegativity of the Aʹ unit via ternary strategy, a significantly improved efficiency of 19.0% for PM6:Y6:Y11 is achieved. Further extending this strategy to the D18:L8‐BO:Y11 system yields an outstanding efficiency of 20.1%. These findings provide valuable insights into designing high‐efficiency non‐fullerene electron acceptors and establish a clear structure‐property relationship for future OSC development.
Source: crossref · Quality: baseline

Research context

OpenAlex topics: Organic Electronics and Photovoltaics · Conducting polymers and applications · Perovskite Materials and Applications

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

Affiliations

State Key Laboratory of Advanced Fiber Materials College of Materials Science and Engineering Donghua University Shanghai 201620 China

School of Energy and Materials Shanghai Polytechnic University Shanghai 201209 China

Center for Advanced Low‐Dimension Materials Donghua University Shanghai 201620 China

Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences Institute of Chemistry Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing 100190 China

School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering East China Normal University Shanghai 200062 China

Funding

National Natural Science Foundation of China · Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities

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