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Elucidating the origin of open-circuit voltage in ternary organic solar cells with a nonfullerene and a fullerene acceptor

Blätte, Dominic ; Günther, Marcella ; Ponseca, Carlito S. ; Weis, Andreas ; Hooijer, Rik ; Quincke, Lucie ; Cachafeiro, Miguel A.T. ; Tress, Wolfgang ; Perea, Jose D. and Leon, Salvador , et al. (2026) In InfoMat 8(2).
Abstract

With organic solar cells surpassing 20% efficiency, the focus is shifting toward understanding the more complex mechanisms in ternary blends. This work investigates the distinct working principles of ternary organic solar cells based on a polymer donor (D) and a nonfullerene acceptor (NFA), with a fullerene acceptor (FA) as the third component. A systematic comparison between ternary D:NFA:FA systems, with different components and compositions, and D:NFA:NFA systems was conducted. In all systems, the open-circuit voltage increased with a higher fullerene ratio, correlating with the fullerene's LUMO position, indicating its involvement in charge transfer (CT) state formation. Various analytical methods and simulations reveal that the... (More)

With organic solar cells surpassing 20% efficiency, the focus is shifting toward understanding the more complex mechanisms in ternary blends. This work investigates the distinct working principles of ternary organic solar cells based on a polymer donor (D) and a nonfullerene acceptor (NFA), with a fullerene acceptor (FA) as the third component. A systematic comparison between ternary D:NFA:FA systems, with different components and compositions, and D:NFA:NFA systems was conducted. In all systems, the open-circuit voltage increased with a higher fullerene ratio, correlating with the fullerene's LUMO position, indicating its involvement in charge transfer (CT) state formation. Various analytical methods and simulations reveal that the investigated D:NFA:FA systems follow an alloy model, where the CT state is delocalized over both acceptors, even in systems with strong surface energy differences between the acceptors. Notably, recombination behavior is largely unaffected by the nature of the third component and is primarily linked to the CT state energy. Based on the internal quantum efficiency characteristics, we propose that the positive effect of fullerenes as third components arises not from reduced nonradiative recombination as often suggested but from more efficient exciton splitting. (Figure presented.).

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type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
alloy model, energy losses, fullerenes, nonfullerene acceptors, ternary organic solar cells
in
InfoMat
volume
8
issue
2
article number
e70109
publisher
John Wiley & Sons Inc.
external identifiers
  • scopus:105026709295
ISSN
2567-3165
DOI
10.1002/inf2.70109
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Publisher Copyright: © 2026 The Author(s). InfoMat published by UESTC and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.
id
06c3a32e-6763-4779-8cbf-9599507445da
date added to LUP
2026-03-19 15:20:54
date last changed
2026-05-29 12:06:06
@article{06c3a32e-6763-4779-8cbf-9599507445da,
  abstract     = {{<p>With organic solar cells surpassing 20% efficiency, the focus is shifting toward understanding the more complex mechanisms in ternary blends. This work investigates the distinct working principles of ternary organic solar cells based on a polymer donor (D) and a nonfullerene acceptor (NFA), with a fullerene acceptor (FA) as the third component. A systematic comparison between ternary D:NFA:FA systems, with different components and compositions, and D:NFA:NFA systems was conducted. In all systems, the open-circuit voltage increased with a higher fullerene ratio, correlating with the fullerene's LUMO position, indicating its involvement in charge transfer (CT) state formation. Various analytical methods and simulations reveal that the investigated D:NFA:FA systems follow an alloy model, where the CT state is delocalized over both acceptors, even in systems with strong surface energy differences between the acceptors. Notably, recombination behavior is largely unaffected by the nature of the third component and is primarily linked to the CT state energy. Based on the internal quantum efficiency characteristics, we propose that the positive effect of fullerenes as third components arises not from reduced nonradiative recombination as often suggested but from more efficient exciton splitting. (Figure presented.).</p>}},
  author       = {{Blätte, Dominic and Günther, Marcella and Ponseca, Carlito S. and Weis, Andreas and Hooijer, Rik and Quincke, Lucie and Cachafeiro, Miguel A.T. and Tress, Wolfgang and Perea, Jose D. and Leon, Salvador and Shuaib, Ali and Chabera, Pavel and Pullerits, Tönu and Bein, Thomas and Ameri, Tayebeh}},
  issn         = {{2567-3165}},
  keywords     = {{alloy model; energy losses; fullerenes; nonfullerene acceptors; ternary organic solar cells}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{2}},
  publisher    = {{John Wiley & Sons Inc.}},
  series       = {{InfoMat}},
  title        = {{Elucidating the origin of open-circuit voltage in ternary organic solar cells with a nonfullerene and a fullerene acceptor}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/inf2.70109}},
  doi          = {{10.1002/inf2.70109}},
  volume       = {{8}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}