Understanding of the Nearly Linear Tunable Open-Circuit Voltages in Ternary Organic Solar Cells Based on Two Non-fullerene Acceptors

Although the power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of the state-of-the-art organic solar cells (OSCs) have exceeded 17%, the organic photovoltaic devices still suffer from considerable voltage losses compared with the inorganic or perovskite solar cells. Therefore, the optimization of opencircuit voltage (V-OC) is of great significance for the improvement of the photovoltaic performance of OSCs. The origins of V-OC have been well-established in the binary system; however, the understanding of V-OC in non-fullerene acceptor (NFA)-based ternary OSCs is still lacking. Herein, we have developed a series of ternary organic photovoltaic devices, exhibiting nearly linear increased V-OC as the increase of ITIC third content. We found that both the effective charge-transfer (CT) states and the nonradiative recombination losses of the bulk-heterojunction (BHJ) are altered in the ternary blends, and they collectively contribute to the tunable V-OC. Our results provide a perspective for understanding the origin of V-OC in NFA-based ternary OSCs.

Automated summary

Researchers developed a series of ternary organic photovoltaic devices, finding that the open-circuit voltage increases linearly with the increase of ITIC third content. They discovered that both the effective charge-transfer states and nonradiative recombination losses in the ternary blends collectively contribute to the tunability of V-OC in NFA-based ternary OSCs.