journal article·2026-05Open access

Decoupling the Transparency‐Efficiency Trade‐Off in Semi‐Transparent Organic Solar Cells via Optimized Dual‐Channel Photoelectric Conversion

Yuyan Li, Shibo Wang, Heng Liu, Bonan Shi, Zhuoqiong Zhang, Yabing Tang, Yuting Song, Shu Kong So, Dongbin Dang, Han Yan, Xinhui Lu, Guilong Cai, Suojiang Zhang

Advanced Science· Volume 13· Issue 30

Abstract

ABSTRACT The development of semi‐transparent organic solar cells (ST‐OSCs) for building‐integrated photovoltaics is fundamentally constrained by the inherent trade‐off between transparency and efficiency. To achieve a breakthrough, it is imperative to maintain high transparency while mitigating the concomitant efficiency loss in low‐donor‐content devices. Herein, we address this challenge by implementing a strategy that optimizes dual‐channel photoelectric conversion, which synergistically integrates the respective advantages of both the heterojunction (HJ) channel and the spontaneously formed photo‐charge (SP) channel. The results reveal that the HJ channel primarily governs hole transport and thus the fill factor, whereas the SP channel is pivotal for charge generation, directly influencing the short‐circuit current density. Strategic acceptor selection and dual‐additive‐assisted morphology control effectively minimize electrical losses from insufficient charge generation and severe recombination, enabling a remarkable power conversion efficiency of 11.3% in PTB7‐Th:BTP‐eC9 (1:4) devices that outperforms their bulk heterojunction (BHJ) counterparts (10.4%), without losing the high transparency (>65%). The general applicability of this strategy was further validated in PM6:BTP‐eC9 (1:3) based ST‐OSCs, yielding a competitive light utilization efficiency of 4.67% and demonstrating the generalizability of our approach across different active layer systems. This study reveals the crucial role of dual‐channel photoelectric conversion in realizing high‐performance ST‐OSCs.
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Research context

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

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

Affiliations

School of Chemical and Molecular Sciences Henan University (Zhengzhou) Zhengzhou China

Longzihu New Energy Laboratory Zhengzhou China

Department of Physics The Chinese University of Hong Kong Hong Kong China

State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behavior of Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering Xi'an Jiaotong University Xi'an China

Department of Physics and Institute of Advanced Materials Hong Kong Baptist University Hong Kong China

Beijing Key Laboratory of Solid State Battery and Energy Storage Process Institute of Process Engineering Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing China

Funding

National Natural Science Foundation of China

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