Two Completely Non-Fused Ring Acceptors Working in an Alloy-Like Model for Efficient and Stable Organic Solar Cells

Simple chemical structure and simplified synthesis process of active layer materials are critical for advancing the practical application of organic solar cells. Herin, two completely non-fused ring electron acceptors BTZT-2Cl and BTZT-4Cl are developed. BTZT-4Cl exhibits an enhanced absorption band, increases electrostatic potential differences with D18, and improves crystallinity and molecular packing properties. Consequently, the binary device based on BTZT-4Cl displays a markedly improved efficiency of 14.12%, compared to the BTZT-2Cl-based device, which only achieves a moderate efficiency of 11.25%. More importantly, an alloy-like structure can be formed by incorporating a small amount of high miscibility and compatibility BTZT-2Cl. The ternary blend exhibits more compact molecular packing, efficient exciton dissociation, and an extended charge carrier lifetime due to the formation of an alloy-like structure. The ternary device achieves a decent efficiency of 15.41% with superior thermal stability and a high T80 lifetime over 1600 h after being aged at 65 degrees C. These results establish it as the most efficient among devices based on completely non-fused ring acceptors with both high efficiency and voltage. This study demonstrates a simple material design strategy and high-performance device optimization techniques, which are critical for advancing practical applications in the OSC field. Two cost-effective fully non-fused ring electron acceptors BTZT-2Cl and BTZT-4Cl are developed and synthesized. A binary device based on D18:BTZT-4Cl gives a high power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 14.12%. The PCE is further improved to 15.41% using a ternary device by incorporating a good solubility and high compatibility BTZT-2Cl as the third component, which is one of highest efficiencies with Voc exceeding 0.95 V for non-fused ring-based OPV to date. image