Crystallization-sequence engineering enables organic solar cell modules with efficiencies exceeding 18%

Yunhao Cai; Hui Huang

doi:10.1088/1674-4926/26020050

J. Semicond. > Just Accepted

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Crystallization-sequence engineering enables organic solar cell modules with efficiencies exceeding 18%

Yunhao Cai^1, and Hui Huang^{1, 2, 3,}

+ Author Affiliations

1. College of Materials Science and Opto-Electronic Technology Center of Materials Science and Optoelectronics Engineering CAS Center for Excellence in Topological Quantum Computation CAS Key Laboratory of Vacuum Physics, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
2. School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering and Low-Carbon Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China
3. The International Joint Institute of Tianjin University, Fuzhou 350207, China

Author Bio:

Yunhao Cai is an Assistant Professor at the School of Materials Science and Opto-Electronic Technology, University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. She received her PhD in Chemistry and Environmental Science from Beihang University in 2019, and subsequently conducted postdoctoral research in the same group. Her current research focuses on organic photovoltaic materials and devices.

Hui Huang is a full professor at Tianjin University. He received his Ph.D. in 2008 at Dartmouth College. He conducted several years of research at Northwestern University and ConocoPhillips/Phillips66 before becoming a full professor. He has published over 140 peer-reviewed journal papers, and his research interests cover the synthetic methodology and optoelectronic applications of organic/polymeric semiconductors.

Corresponding author: Yunhao Cai, caiyunhao@ucas.ac.cn; Hui Huang, huihuang@ucas.ac.cn

DOI: 10.1088/1674-4926/26020050CSTR: 32376.14.1674-4926.26020050

References

[1]	Ma R J, Luo Z H, Zhang Y D, et al. Organic solar cells: Beyond 20%. Sci China Mater, 2025, 68(6): 1689 doi: 10.1007/s40843-025-3366-9
[2]	Li C Q, Cai Y H, Hu P F, et al. Organic solar cells with 21% efficiency enabled by a hybrid interfacial layer with dual-component synergy. Nat Mater, 2025, 24(10): 1626 doi: 10.1038/s41563-025-02305-8
[3]	Fu J H, Li H X, Liu H, et al. Two-step crystallization modulated through acenaphthene enabling 21% binary organic solar cells and 83.2% fill factor. Nat Energy, 2025, 10(10): 1251 doi: 10.1038/s41560-025-01862-1
[4]	Li C, Song J L, Lai H J, et al. Non-fullerene acceptors with high crystallinity and photoluminescence quantum yield enable >20% efficiency organic solar cells. Nat Mater, 2025, 24(3): 433 doi: 10.1038/s41563-024-02087-5
[5]	Wei Y N, Cai Y H, Gu X B, et al. Over 18% efficiency ternary organic solar cells with 300 nm thick active layer enabled by an oligomeric acceptor. Adv Mater, 2024, 36(2): 2304225 doi: 10.1002/adma.202304225
[6]	Cai Y H, Li Q, Lu G Y, et al. Vertically optimized phase separation with improved exciton diffusion enables efficient organic solar cells with thick active layers. Nat Commun, 2022, 13: 2369 doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-29803-6
[7]	Zhang H R, Liu Y Q, Ran G L, et al. Sequentially processed bulk-heterojunction-buried structure for efficient organic solar cells with 500 nm thickness. Adv Mater, 2024(36): 2400521
[8]	Chen H Y, Huang Y T, Zhang R, et al. Organic solar cells with 20.82% efficiency and high tolerance of active layer thickness through crystallization sequence manipulation. Nat Mater, 2025, 24(3): 444 doi: 10.1038/s41563-024-02062-0

Fig. 1. (Color online) (a) Illustration of AT-β2O-regulated N3 crystallization and donor/acceptor vertical stratification. (b) Schematic of the large-area OSC module. (c) Current density-voltage curve of the D18-Cl:N3:AT-β2O (250 nm) module measured under AM1.5G 100 mW cm^−2[8].

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[1]	Ma R J, Luo Z H, Zhang Y D, et al. Organic solar cells: Beyond 20%. Sci China Mater, 2025, 68(6): 1689 doi: 10.1007/s40843-025-3366-9
[2]	Li C Q, Cai Y H, Hu P F, et al. Organic solar cells with 21% efficiency enabled by a hybrid interfacial layer with dual-component synergy. Nat Mater, 2025, 24(10): 1626 doi: 10.1038/s41563-025-02305-8
[3]	Fu J H, Li H X, Liu H, et al. Two-step crystallization modulated through acenaphthene enabling 21% binary organic solar cells and 83.2% fill factor. Nat Energy, 2025, 10(10): 1251 doi: 10.1038/s41560-025-01862-1
[4]	Li C, Song J L, Lai H J, et al. Non-fullerene acceptors with high crystallinity and photoluminescence quantum yield enable >20% efficiency organic solar cells. Nat Mater, 2025, 24(3): 433 doi: 10.1038/s41563-024-02087-5
[5]	Wei Y N, Cai Y H, Gu X B, et al. Over 18% efficiency ternary organic solar cells with 300 nm thick active layer enabled by an oligomeric acceptor. Adv Mater, 2024, 36(2): 2304225 doi: 10.1002/adma.202304225
[6]	Cai Y H, Li Q, Lu G Y, et al. Vertically optimized phase separation with improved exciton diffusion enables efficient organic solar cells with thick active layers. Nat Commun, 2022, 13: 2369 doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-29803-6
[7]	Zhang H R, Liu Y Q, Ran G L, et al. Sequentially processed bulk-heterojunction-buried structure for efficient organic solar cells with 500 nm thickness. Adv Mater, 2024(36): 2400521
[8]	Chen H Y, Huang Y T, Zhang R, et al. Organic solar cells with 20.82% efficiency and high tolerance of active layer thickness through crystallization sequence manipulation. Nat Mater, 2025, 24(3): 444 doi: 10.1038/s41563-024-02062-0