Materials 'sandwich' breaks barrier for flexible solar cell efficiency

Nanomaterials researchers have devised a method to significantly improve the efficiency of organic solar cells. They used a squaraine molecule to both donate electrons and better orient the PBDB-T polymer with the ITIC non-fullerene acceptor. Combined with another design mechanism the group previously pioneered, they achieved efficiency gains of more than 10 percent in converting solar energy into power. The flexible cells could eventually be used in wearables and more.