High-Performance Ternary Organic Solar Cells with Enhanced Luminescence Efficiency and Miscibility Enabled by Two Compatible Acceptors

The ternary strategy has proven to be an effective method for improving the efficiency of organic solar cells (OSCs). However, designing and selecting the third component still pose challenges. In this study, this issue is addressed by focusing on the PBDB-T:Y18-F binary system and introducing a new, strong luminescent, asymmetric small-molecule acceptor (SMA) called L8-CBIC-Cl, which shares a similar skeleton with Y18-F. The similarity in molecular framework facilitates good compatibility between the two acceptors, resulting in the formation of an alloy-like acceptor phase. Furthermore, the norbornenyl-modified end group in L8-CBIC-Cl contributes to its strong luminescent properties, which in turn leads to a low non-radiative energy loss and a high open-circuit voltage. Consequently, the PBDB-T:L8-CBIC-Cl:Y18-F based ternary devices realize a high power conversion efficiency (PCE) up to 17.01%, which is higher than PBDB-T:Y18-F device (14.49%). Importantly, L8-CBIC-Cl exhibits a good universality as a guest acceptor in other three binary systems (D18:Y6, D18:BTP-eC9-4F, and D18:L8-BO). The D18:L8-BO:L8-CBIC-Cl device shows an impressive efficiency of 19%. The work demonstrates that employing SMA with a high PLQY and better miscibility with host acceptor as the third component has a great potential for developing high-efficiency ternary OSCs.