Suppressing Static and Dynamic Disorder for High-Efficiency and Stable Thick-Film Organic Solar Cells via Synergistic Dilution Strategy

Developing stable and highly efficient thick-film organic solar cells (OSCs) is crucial for the large-scale commercial application of organic photovoltaics. A novel synergistic dilution strategy to address this issue, using Polymethyl Methacrylate (PMMA) -modified zinc oxide (ZnO) as the interfacial layer, is introduced. This strategy effectively mitigates oxygen defects in ZnO while also regulating the self-assembly process of the active layer to achieve an ordered distribution of donors and acceptors. In synergistic diluted devices, the dynamic disorder is reduced owing to the suppression of electron-phonon coupling, while the static disorder is suppressed by improved molecular stacking and enhanced intermolecular interactions. Consequently, the 300 nm PM6:L8-BO device post-synergistic dilution manifests a marked enhancement in device performance, achieving a photovoltaic power conversion efficiency (PCE) >17% with excellent thermal stability. A typical ternary system is selected to explore the general applicability of synergistic dilution strategy, the PCE has been enhanced significantly from 17.89% to 18.72%, which falls within the range of the highest values among inverted single junction OSCs. As a practical application that depends on the pivotal synergy between high efficiency and stability, this approach paves the way for large-scale implementation of OSCs and ensures cost-effectiveness.