journal article·2026-02Open access

Cold‐Sublimating Quasi‐Solid Additive Enables High Efficiency and Long Operational Stability Binary Organic Solar Cells

Zesheng Zhang, Lingchen Kong, Xinkang Wang, Rong Wang, Hua Tang, Mingqing Chen, Yuntong Yang, Lianjie Zhang, Yuang Fu, Xinhui Lu, Dongge Ma, Larry Lüer, Chao Liu, Christoph J. Brabec, Junwu Chen

Advanced Energy Materials· Volume 16· Issue 5

Abstract

ABSTRACT Controlling activelayer morphology during drying is pivotal for the simultaneous realization of high efficiency and durability in Yseries organic solar cells (OSCs). Here, we uncover how the physical state of in situ removable (ISR) isomeric additives, o DF (liquid), m DF (quasisolid), and p DF (solid), governs film formation, molecular ordering, and device stability in binary OSCs. Among them, quasisolid m DF functions as a coldsublimating transient structuring agent: it widens earlystage solvent removal window yet accelerates intermediate crystallization, tightens π–π stacking, enlarges coherence length, and programs a favorable vertical phase separation, as resolved by in situ UV–vis, GIWAXS, and depthprofiled spectroscopy. m DF interacts most strongly with L8‐BO while fully evaporating from the film, minimizing nonradiative losses and avoiding the adverse impact of residual additives on device stability. Consequently, PM6:L8BO devices reach 19.28% PCE with improved carrier mobility and suppressed trapassisted recombination; applying m DF to D18:L8BO yields 20.08%. Under 1sun illumination at 70 °C, m DF extends operational stability to T 80 = 477 h, outperforming o DF (58 h), p DF (279 h), and additivefree control (103 h). These results establish physicalstateprogrammed ISR additives as a general route to cooptimize efficiency and stability in OSCs and provide mechanistic guidance for scalable, residuefree morphology control.
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Research context

OpenAlex topics: Organic Electronics and Photovoltaics · Perovskite Materials and Applications · Luminescence and Fluorescent Materials

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

Affiliations

Institute of Polymer Optoelectronic Materials & Devices Guangdong Basic Research Center of Excellence for Energy & Information Polymer Materials State Key Laboratory of Luminescent Materials & Devices South China University of Technology Guangzhou P. R. China

Institute of Materials for Electronics and Energy Technology (i‐MEET) Friedrich‐Alexander‐Universität Erlangen‐Nürnberg (FAU) Erlangen Germany

Department of Material Science & Engineering City University of Hong Kong Kowloon Hong Kong China

Helmholtz‐Institute Erlangen‐Nürnberg (HI ERN) Erlangen Germany

Department of Physics The Chinese University of Hong Kong New Territories Hong Kong 999077 P. R. China

Institute of Energy Materials and Devices (IMD‐3) Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH Wilhelm‐Johnen‐Straße Jülich Germany

Funding

Helmholtz Association · China Scholarship Council · Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation of Guangdong Province · Innovative Research Group Project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China

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