Stretchable All-Small-Molecule Organic Solar Cells Enabled by Polymer Elastomer Confinement

Chen-Yi Zhang; Yu-Qiang Liu; Hong-Xiang Li; Xin-Yue Cui; Zheng-Dong Wei; Yue-Heng Liu; Ming-Hua Li; An-Dong Zhang; Pei Cheng; Zhi-Shan Bo

doi:10.1007/s10118-025-3265-2

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Stretchable All-Small-Molecule Organic Solar Cells Enabled by Polymer Elastomer Confinement

RESEARCH ARTICLE | Updated：2025-01-23

- Stretchable All-Small-Molecule Organic Solar Cells Enabled by Polymer Elastomer Confinement
- Stretchable All-Small-Molecule Organic Solar Cells Enabled by Polymer Elastomer Confinement
- 高分子科学（英文） 2025年43卷第2期页码：271-277
- Affiliations：
  
  a.College of Textiles & Clothing, State Key Laboratory of Bio-fibers and Eco-textiles, Qingdao University, Qingdao 266071, China
  b.State Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials Engineering, College of Polymer Science and Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China
  c.College of Materials Science and Engineering, Qingdao University, Qingdao 266071, China
  d.Beijing Key Laboratory of Energy Conversion and Storage Materials, College of Chemistry, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
- Author bio：
  
  yqliu@qdu.edu.cn (Y.Q.L.)
  qdulmh@qdu.edu.cn (M.H.L.)
  zsbo@bnu.edu.cn (Z.S.B.)
- Funds：
  
  This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 52303239 and 51933001) and Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (Nos. ZR2022QB141 and 2023HWYQ-087). The authors acknowledge cooperation from the Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Facility (BSRF-1W1A) and thanks to the data support provided by Ya-Nan Chen in Qingdao University and AFM measurements provided by Dr. Ru Li from Instrumental Analysis Center of Qingdao University.;Electronic supplementary information (ESI) is available free of charge in the online version of this article at http://doi.org/10.1007/s10118-025-3265-2.
- DOI：10.1007/s10118-025-3265-2
  中图分类号：
- 收稿：2024-09-04，
  
  修回：2024-10-08，
  
  录用：2024-11-08，
  
  网络首发：2025-01-18，
  
  纸质出版：2025-02-01
- Accepted：
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Zhang, C. Y.; Liu, Y. Q.; Li, H. X.; Cui, X. Y.; Wei, Z. D.; Liu, Y. H.; Li, M. H.; Zhang, A. D.; Cheng, P.; Bo, Z. S. Stretchable all-small-molecule organic solar cells enabled by polymer elastomer confinement. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. 2025, 43, 271–277

Chen-Yi Zhang, Yu-Qiang Liu, Hong-Xiang Li, et al. Stretchable All-Small-Molecule Organic Solar Cells Enabled by Polymer Elastomer Confinement[J]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2025, 43(2): 271-277.
Zhang, C. Y.; Liu, Y. Q.; Li, H. X.; Cui, X. Y.; Wei, Z. D.; Liu, Y. H.; Li, M. H.; Zhang, A. D.; Cheng, P.; Bo, Z. S. Stretchable all-small-molecule organic solar cells enabled by polymer elastomer confinement. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. 2025, 43, 271–277 DOI： 10.1007/s10118-025-3265-2.

Chen-Yi Zhang, Yu-Qiang Liu, Hong-Xiang Li, et al. Stretchable All-Small-Molecule Organic Solar Cells Enabled by Polymer Elastomer Confinement[J]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2025, 43(2): 271-277. DOI： 10.1007/s10118-025-3265-2.

摘要

The elastomer SEBS is designed to confine the growth dynamics of small molecule donors and acceptors as well as the mechanical properties of blend films. The stretchability of the film is improved. This scheme promises a new strategy for the preparation of stretchable organic solar cells.

Abstract

Intrinsic stretchability is a promising attribute of polymer organic solar cells (OSCs). However

rigid molecular blocks typically exhibit poor tensile prope

rties

rendering polymers vulnerable to mechanical stress. In this study

we introduce a different approach utilizing all-small-molecule donors and acceptors to fabricate stretchable OSCs. An elastomer

styrene-

-ethylene-butylene-styrene (SEBS)

was embedded to modulate film crystallization and stretchability. SEBS effectively confines the growth process of donors and acceptors

leading to enhancement of the crystallization quality

thus contributing to enhanced device efficiencies. Meanwhile

SEBS can absorb and release mechanical stress during stretching

thereby preventing mechanical degradation of donors and acceptors. The mechanical properties of the OSCs were significantly improved by the incorporation of SEBS. Notably

the crack-onset strain increased from 1.03% to 5.99% with SEBS embedding. These findings present a straightforward strategy for achieving stretchable OSCs using all small molecules

offering a different perspective for realizing stretchable devices.

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