Cost-effective polymer donors with simple structure for organic solar cells

Abstract

Organic solar cells (OSCs) have become one of the most rapidly developing research fields in the past decades due to advantages such as low-cost manufacturing, large-area solution preparation, and compatibility with flexible substrates. Thanks to the rapid development of photovoltaic materials and device process, power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of single-junction OSCs has reached 20%. Although the PCE threshold for economic up-scaling has been close to being crossed, the manufacturing cost of OSCs need to be seriously considered. In this perspective, we mainly summarized the recent advances in innovation of cost-effective polymer donors with simple structures and structure-property relationships, as well as the guidelines for future structure designs, morphology control and the direction for the development of OSCs.