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Updated: Jan 15, 2026

Well-aligned Vertically Oriented ZnO Nanorod Arrays and their Application in Inverted Small Molecule Solar Cells
Published on: April 25, 2018
Dual-Compatible Polarity-switched Small Molecules Enable Auxiliary Charge Generation and Transport Pathways in
Jiawei Deng1,2, Guangkuo Dai2, Lixuan Kan3
1Hangzhou International Innovation Institute, Beihang University, Hangzhou, 311115, P.R. China.
Abstract:
The commercialization of organic solar cells (OSCs) is limited by bottlenecks including relatively high voltage loss, insufficient donor-acceptor interfacial charge generation, and morphological instability. Traditional approaches of interfacial regulation usually struggle with unmatching energetic landscape and/or molecular compatibility. In this study, two small molecules, L8-CT and L8-2CT are designed and synthesized by end-group substitution of the star nonfullerene acceptor L8-BO, gradually switching it from electron acceptor to electron donor. Moreover, L8-2CT with full end-group substitution exhibits exceptional compatibility/miscibility with both donor (PM6) and acceptor (L8-BO) in the ternary blend. The tight molecular packing between L8-2CT and L8-BO also reduces exciton diffusion time by an order of magnitude compared to PM6:L8-BO. The introduction of L8-2CT significantly enhances the donor-acceptor molecular percolation at the interface so that enabling auxiliary charge generation and transport pathways, thereby boosting the interfacial charge generation efficiency and morphology stability. Therefore, the PM6:L8-BO:L8-2CT ternary device achieves a remarkable efficiency of 20.33%, with simultaneously enhanced photostability. This achievement fundamentally challenges the traditional design paradigms for third components in ternary OSCs.
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