Publication date: 15th December 2025
The performance and long-term stability of organic solar cells are intimately linked to the nanoscale and mesoscale structures that emerge during thin-film formation. In donor–acceptor blends, molecular packing, phase separation, and domain connectivity collectively determine the efficiency of charge generation, transport, and extraction. However, controlling these structural features remains a central challenge, as they originate from a sequence of complex and interconnected processing steps, beginning with the molecular aggregation state in solution [1,2], followed by rapid structure formation during deposition [2], and completed through post-treatments such as thermal or solvent annealing [3,4]. Understanding and actively steering these transitions is therefore key to realizing both high efficiency and operationally stable devices. In this talk, I will highlight how structure formation governs performance- and stability-relevant processes in state-of-the-art OPV systems, drawing on recent examples. Using time-resolved and multimodal characterization approaches—most prominently grazing-incidence X-ray scattering and optical spectroscopy—we track the evolution of aggregation during and after film deposition. These measurements reveal how subtle variations in ink formulation, solvent evaporation pathways, and annealing conditions lead to distinct hierarchical morphologies. Such multiscale structures not only set the energetic landscape and charge-transport pathways in high-performance devices, but also predetermine how the material will respond to e.g. thermal stress during operation.
A particularly instructive example comes from our recent temperature-dependent study of PM6-based systems [4], where controlled heating allowed us to disentangle reversible from irreversible structural changes and relate differences in behaviour to the structural differences obtained during structure formation.
Looking ahead, I will further demonstrate that the integration of automated, high-throughput characterization and data-driven analysis offers a powerful route to further accelerate our understanding of structure–stability relationships in OPV materials.
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