Recently, Gao Wei, a researcher from Institute of Luminescent Materials and Information Displays and College of Materials Science & Engineering of Huaqiao University (HQU), has made new progresses in the field of organic solar cells and published two research papers in Nature Communications and Advanced Energy Materials.

The paper titled “Efficient all-small-molecule organic solar cells processed with non-halogen solvent” was published in Nature Communications (JCR Q1 top of CAS, IF 16.6). Nature Communications is a Nature-branded multidisciplinary journal dedicated to publishing high-quality research papers that represent important advances of significance to specialists within each field. Gao and his teammates designed and synthesized a small molecule donor with strong aggregation property. They overcame the challenges in non-halogen solvent processing of all-small-molecule organic solar cells, elucidated its working mechanism and influence on the pre-aggregation and active layer morphology, and achieved over 16% power conversion efficiency for the first time. This work is of great significance for the commercial use of organic solar cells.

Another paper titled “3D Crystal Framework Regulation Enables Se-Functionalised Small Molecule Acceptors Achieve Over 19% Efficiency” was published in Advanced Energy Materials(JCR Q1 top of CAS, IF 27.8), a leading international journal from Wiley renowned for its with academic excellence, readability, and global impact. It focuses on research findings and practices in chemistry, physical energy and fuels-related areas. Based on the advantage of narrow-band gap and the disadvantage of low photovoltaic performance of Se-functionalized small molecule acceptors(SMAs), Gao’s work regulated 3D packing frameworks and dielectric constants of small molecule acceptors by increasing the steric hindrance of outer alkyl chain. This work adjusts the molecular crystallization to form a favorable nanofiber interpenetrating network with an appropriate domain size to reduce rate of sub-ns recombination, and enables SMAs achieve over 19% efficiency.

The two papers represent Gao’s latest advancements in academia since he joined the university in Feb. 2023, and prove the success of HQU’s initiative of building a high-caliber teaching staff. Gao Wei is the first author of both papers; the corresponding authors include Academician Alex K.-Y. Jen of the City University of Hong Kong and Chair Professor Li Gang of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University; the first affiliation of both papers is Huaqiao University. The research was supported by Scientific Research Funds of Huaqiao University (605-50Y23024) .

Link to Paper 1: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-46144-8

Link to Paper 2: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/aenm.202304477

(Editor: Wei Linying)