A ternary-blend strategy is presented to surmount the shortcomings of both fullerene derivatives and nonfullerene small molecules as acceptors for the first time. The optimal ternary device shows a high power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 10.4%. Moreover, a significant enhancement in PCE (≈35%) relative to both of the binary reference devices, which has never been achieved before in high-efficiency ternary devices, is demonstrated.

Three novel 5,6-difluorobenzothiadiazole and silafluorene based conjugated polymers have been synthesized and used as donor materials for polymer solar cells.

Two novel polymers PTFBDT-BZS and PTFBDT-BZO with 4-alkyl-3,5-difluorophenyl substituted benzodithiophene as the donor unit, benzothiadiazole or benzooxadiazole as the acceptor unit, and thiophene as the spacer have been synthesized and used as donor materials for polymer solar cells (PSCs). These two polymers exhibited wide optical band gaps of about 1.8 eV. PSCs with the blend of PTFBDT-BZS:PC71BM (1:2, by weight) as the active layer fabricated without using any processing additive and any postannealing treatment showed power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 8.24% with an open circuit voltage (Voc) of 0.89 V, a short circuit current (Jsc) of 12.67 mA/cm(2), and a fill factor (FF) of 0.73 under AM 1.5G illumination, indicating that PTFBDT-BZS is a very promising donor polymer for PSCs. The blend of PTFBDT-BZO:PC71BM showed a lower PCE of 5.67% with a Voc of 0.96 V, a Jsc of 9.24 mA/cm(2), and an FF of 0.64. One reason for the lower PCE is probably due to that PTFBDT-BZO has a smaller LUMO offset with PC71BM, which cannot provide enough driving force for charge separation. And another reason is probably due to that PTFBDT-BZO has a lower hole mobility in comparison with PTFBDT-BZS.

New benzothiadiazole based conjugated polymers have been synthesized as donor materials for high efficiency polymer solar cells with a thick active layer.

In a conjugated polymer‐based single‐particle heterojunction, stochastic fluctuations of the photogenerated hole population lead to spontaneous fluorescence switching. We found that 405 nm irradiation can induce charge recombination and activate the single‐particle emission. Based on these phenomena, we developed a novel class of semiconducting polymer dots that can operate in two superresolution imaging modes. The spontaneous switching mode offers efficient imaging of large areas, with <10 nm localization precision, while the photoactivation/deactivation mode offers slower imaging, with further improved localization precision (ca. 1 nm), showing advantages in resolving small structures that require high spatial resolution. Superresolution imaging of microtubules and clathrin‐coated pits was demonstrated, under both modes. The excellent localization precision and versatile imaging options provided by these nanoparticles offer clear advantages for imaging of various biological systems.

Solution processable star-shaped donor-acceptor (D-A) conjugated molecules (TPA-T-NI and TPA-3T-NI) with an electron-donating triphenylamine (TPA) core, three thienylene or terthienylene spacers, and three 1.8-naphthalimide (NI) electron-withdrawing end-groups are explored for the first time as charge storage materials for resistor-type memory devices owing to the efficient electric charge transfer and trapping.

Three donor–acceptor (D–A) alternating conjugated polymers with silafluorene as the donor unit, 5-alkyloxy-6-fluorobenzothiadiazole as the acceptor unit, and thiophene as the spacer has been synthesized and used as donor materials for polymer solar cells (PSCs). The introduction of a fluorine atom on the benzothiadiazole unit can lower the HOMO and LUMO energy level of the resulted polymers to afford higher open circuit voltage (V oc); whereas the introduction of a flexible alkyloxy chain on benzothiadiazole unit can increase the solubility of the resulted polymers without interfering the close packing of polymer chains in the solid state. High molecular weight polymers P-1a, P-1b, and P-1c, which are fully soluble in 1,2-dichorobenzene (DCB) at elevated temperature, have been prepared by Suzuki polycondensation. Among these polymers, P-1c exhibited the highest hole mobility up to 1.36 × 10–2 cm2 V–1 s–1. PSCs based P-1b:PC71BM demonstrated the highest V oc up to 0.98 V. P-1a:PC71BM based PSCs gave the highest power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 6.41%, which is the highest value among solar cells with benzothiadiazole- and silafluorene-containing polymers as the donor material.

Two conjugated polymers (P1, P2) were designed and used as donor materials for polymer solar cells. The open-circuit voltage was significantly improved to 0.85 V. The synergistic effect of combined carboxylate and fluoro functional groups promoted the PCE to as high as 9.26%.