Efficient and stable organic solar cells enabled by multicomponent photoactive layer based on one-pot polymerization

Degradation of kinetically bulk heterojunction film morphology in organic solar cells is a grand challenge for their practical application. Here, the authors design and synthesise multicomponent photoactive material by facile one-pot polymerization and achieve efficiency of 11.8% and T80 of 1000 h. Degradation of the kinetically trapped bulk heterojunction film morphology in organic solar cells (OSCs) remains a grand challenge for their practical application. Herein, we demonstrate highly thermally stable OSCs using multicomponent photoactive layer synthesized via a facile one-pot polymerization, which show the advantages of low synthetic cost and simplified device fabrication. The OSCs based on multicomponent photoactive layer deliver a high power conversion efficiency of 11.8% and exhibit excellent device stability for over 1000 h (>80% of their initial efficiency retention), realizing a balance between device efficiency and operational lifetime for OSCs. In-depth opto-electrical and morphological properties characterizations revealed that the dominant PM6-b-L15 block polymers with backbone entanglement and the small fraction of PM6 and L15 polymers synergistically contribute to the frozen fine-tuned film morphology and maintain well-balanced charge transport under long-time operation. These findings pave the way towards the development of low-cost and long-term stable OSCs.

Automated summary

The degradation of kinetically trapped bulk heterojunction film morphology in organic solar cells is a major challenge for their practical use. In this study, the authors demonstrate highly thermally stable organic solar cells with a multicomponent photoactive layer synthesized through a simple one-pot polymerization method, achieving an efficiency of 11.8% and a T80 of 1000 hours. These findings provide a pathway for the development of low-cost and long-term stable organic solar cells.