In this work, the morphology of the donor polymer Poly([2,6′-4,8-di(5-ethylhexylthienyl)benzo[1,2-b;3,3-b]dithiophene]{3-fluoro-2[(2 ethylhexyl)carbonyl]thieno[3,4-b]thiophenediyl(PTB7-Th) was systematically studied at both solution and by preparing a thin film at different spin speeds. The thin films were prepared at 600, 800, 1500, and 3000 rotation per minutes (rpm) using spin coater, with approximate thicknesses of 85, 23, 14, and 11 nm, respectively, as measured by a surface profilometer. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was employed to examine the nanoscale morphology of PTB7-Th by dissolving it in chlorobenzene. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) was used to analyze the surface morphology of thin films of PTB7-Th coated on a glass substrate at different spin speeds. Furthermore, the optical and structural properties were investigated using UV–visible spectroscopy, photoluminescence (PL), and Raman spectroscopy to understand molecular interactions and film quality as a function of spin speed. Using these microscopy and spectroscopy techniques, it is inferred that the film prepared at 1500 rpm (thickness ∼ 14 nm) exhibited improved morphology, which facilitates better charge transport. Finally, an organic solar cell device using PTB7-Th and PCBM is fabricated by coating the active layer of the cell at different spin speeds and the device prepared at 1500 rpm exhibits the highest power conversion efficiency (PCE) among all the spin speeds.

Developing environmentally benign and efficient non-fused ring electron acceptors (NFREAs) with simplified molecular structures and reduced synthetic complexities is a key objective for advancing OSC technology. In conventional NFREA synthesis, typically relies on Stille/Suzuki coupling, which suffers from poor atom economy, multiple steps, high cost, and environmental concerns. Herein, we report a series of A-D-A type fully NFREAs, namely SN-4, SN-5, and SN-6 were designed and synthesized in three steps via a direct C-H arylation strategy that avoids fused-ring construction and hazardous organotin reagents. These acceptors exhibit narrow optical bandgaps (∼1.44 eV) with strong near-infrared light absorption, enabling superior light-harvesting. Molecular dynamics simulations reveal pronounced terminal-terminal interactions, highlighting the pivotal role of end-group interactions in governing molecular packing. Among the series, the binary device based on PM6:SN-6 achieves a remarkable power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 15.86% under green-solvent processing, surpassing SN-4 (7.85%) and SN-5 (12.88%) owing to enhanced charge transport, low radiative energy losses, and reduced trap-assisted recombination. This work demonstrates a sustainable, efficient, and scalable pathway for developing low-cost, narrow-bandgap, high-performance NFREAs, and advancing their potential for future organic photovoltaic applications.

Organic solar cells (OSCs) based on the PM6:Y6 donor-acceptor system have achieved remarkable efficiency. However, further performance enhancement remains constrained by partial exciton utilization, nonradiative recombination losses, and energetic disorder in the active layer. Here, we introduce a noncondensed acceptor, NFA6, as a third component into the PM6:Y6 host binary blend to regulate exciton dynamics and recombination pathways. Spectroscopic investigations including steady-state, time-resolved photoluminescence, and transient absorption under selective excitation reveal pronounced exciton quenching and accelerated charge generation in ternary blends. A significant spectral overlap between emission of NFA6 and absorption of Y6 indicates an efficient energy transfer process, which enhances exciton harvesting and contributes to an increased short-circuit current density (JSC). Incorporation of 20% (w/w) NFA6 optimizes the nanoscale morphology, promoting efficient charge dissociation and transportation while suppressing bimolecular and trap-assisted recombination. Energetic disorder evaluation further reveals reduced nonradiative losses in the ternary system compared with the binary counterpart. Consequently, the optimized inverted PM6:Y6:NFA6 ternary device achieves a power conversion efficiency of 16.72%, significantly exceeding 14.11% efficiency in the binary PM6:Y6 device fabricated fully under open-air conditions. This enhancement is due to increased JSC, fill factor, reduced voltage loss, improved charge carrier mobility, and prolonged carrier lifetime, confirming more efficient exciton dissociation and suppressed recombination in the ternary system. These findings reveal that the noncondensed acceptor functions primarily as an excitonic sensitizer rather than a direct charge-separating component. This work provides new insights into exciton management strategies for minimizing voltage losses and advancing high-performance ternary OSCs.

Developing medium bandgap polymer donors that feature a deep HOMO energy level alongside with high dipole moment, well-balanced optoelectronic and morphological characteristics is essential for enhancing the performance and scalability of organic solar cells. We present two D-A-D-DA'-D type medium bandgap polymers, which include the identical asymmetric fused benzotriazole DA' and thiophene donor (D) along with different acceptor units. i.e., fluorinated benzothiadiazole (P155) and benzothiadiazole (P156). Integrating an asymmetric DA' unit improves the planarity of the polymer backbone and diminishes intramolecular charge transfer, thereby lowering the HOMO energy level. When fluorinated benzothiadiazole serves as the acceptor unit, the HOMO level is further lowered, thereby increasing the molecular dipole moment. P155 and P156 displayed complementary absorption spectra alongside the narrow bandgap non-fullerene acceptor Y6 and well-optimized energy level alignment. Time-resolved photoluminescence measurements revealed that the exciton dissociation efficiency in the P155:Y6 device exceeds that of the P156:Y6 device. Interestingly, P155: Y6 film exhibits enhanced film morphology featuring tighter it-it stacking, as shown by XRD and AFM analyses. The synergistic effects in the organic solar cell utilizing the P155:Y6 active layer result in a power conversion efficiency of 15.57%, accompanied by a significant short-circuit current density of 23.98 mA/cm2 and an open-circuit voltage of 0.883 V, surpassing that of P156:Y6 (11.44%).

Quinoidal porphyrinoids represent a promising class of electron accepting materials due to their extended pi conjugation, strong electron affinity, and structural rigidity, yet their application in organic solar cells (OSCs) remains unexplored. This work presents the design and synthesis of a nickel based quinoidal porphyrinoid (NiQP) and its implementation as an n type acceptor in bulk heterojunction OSCs using PM6 as the donor polymer. NiQP exhibits broad absorption extending into the near-infrared region and a narrow optical bandgap of approximately 1.44 eV, enabling complementary light harvesting with PM6. PM6:NiQP devices deliver a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 8.47% in as cast films, which increases to 12.51% after solvent vapor annealing (SVA), mainly due to enhanced short circuit current density and fill factor. Photophysical and electrical analyses show that SVA improves nanoscale morphology, exciton diffusion, and dissociation efficiency, while suppressing bimolecular and trap assisted recombination. Energy loss analysis further indicates reduced radiative and non radiative recombination losses in SVA treated devices, accompanied by lower Urbach energy and diminished energetic disorder. These results demonstrate the potential of quinoidal porphyrinoids as efficient electron acceptors and provide guidelines for molecular design and processing strategies in next generation OSCs.

Colloidal PbS quantum dots synthesized by a one-step direct-synthesis technique show great potential to develop low-cost and scalable manufacturing of quantum dot solar cells. However, the hole-extracting layer is still a barrier to the direction of scalability and performance of devices. Therefore, we successfully introduced a thin bulk heterojunction of PTB7-Th and fullerene (PC71BM) into the direct-synthesis-based PbS quantum dots solar cells. PTB7-Th:PC71BM-based device efficiently enhances light harvesting efficiency as well as acts as an interfacial charge transfer layer. It delivers a power conversion efficiency of 8.63%, which is higher than that of devices based on PTB7-Th (6.98%) and pristine colloidal PbS (0.94%) only. The increase in power conversion efficiency is due to the increased values of short-circuit current, open-circuit voltage, and fill factor for the solar cells after the incorporation of the PTB7-Th:PC71BM layer. More importantly, this work will inspire the exploration of various donor and acceptor combinations as an interfacial charge transfer layer to construct low-cost, scalable, and high-efficiency solution-processed organic-inorganic colloidal quantum dots solution-processed optoelectronic devices.

A D-A copolymer, poly(4,8-bis(5-(2-ethylhexyl)thiophen-2-yl)benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b']dithiophene-2,6-diyl)-co-(9-(2-octyldodecyl)-8H-pyrrolo[3,4-b]dithieno[2,3-f:3 ',2 '-h]quinoxaline-8,10(9H)-dione), denoted as P(BDTPtQD)-consisting of dithienoquinoxalineimide (DTQxI) as the acceptor (A) and benzodithiophene with thiophene-conjugated side chain (BDTT) as the donor (D) unit-was synthesized and its optical and electrochemical properties were compared with those of the well-known polymer PBDB-T, which exhibits the same donor unit and a different acceptor unit. P(BDTPtQD) exhibits a large dipole moment, a wide bandgap of 1.87 eV, and a deeper highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) energy level of -5.45 eV as compared to PBDB-T. When combined with narrow bandgap non-fullerene acceptor BTP-eC9 and medium bandgap non-fullerene acceptor DBTBT-IC, the optimized binary organic solar cells showed an overall power conversion efficiencies of 14.84 and 12.81%, respectively. Following the addition of DBTBT-IC to the P(BDTPtQD) : BTP-eC9 binary host, ternary organic solar cells fabricated under air-processed conditions achieved a power conversion efficiency of 17.26%. The improvement in the power conversion efficiency of the ternary organic solar cell is attributed to the denser pi-pi stacking distance, the longer crystal coherence length of pi-pi stacking, efficient exciton utilization through energy transfer from DBTBT-IC to BTP-eC9, lower trap density, and minimized recombination losses.

The rapid development of organic solar cells (OSCs) in recent years has been largely driven by advances in nonfullerene acceptors and innovative device architectures. Beyond material design, solid additives have emerged as an effective strategy to regulate active‐layer morphology, enhance charge transport, and suppress recombination losses, thereby improving device efficiency and stability. Compared with traditional solvent additives, solid additives provide better control over nanoscale molecular packing and donor–acceptor phase separation, leading to more stable film morphologies. This review summarizes recent progress on solid additives in OSCs, focusing on their impact on active‐layer crystallinity, donor–acceptor miscibility, exciton dissociation, and charge‐carrier dynamics. Representative studies demonstrate that solid additives can significantly enhance power conversion efficiency by promoting favorable molecular orientation and reducing trap‐assisted recombination. Their role in mitigating key challenges such as nonradiative voltage losses, thermal instability, and large‐area film uniformity is also discussed. Furthermore, different classes of solid additives, including volatile small molecules, halogenated compounds, and emerging green materials, are compared in terms of performance enhancement and scalability. Finally, future perspectives emphasize rational additive design to enable eco‐friendly, durable, and commercially viable OSC technologies.

The development of high-performance polymer donors and fused-ring small-molecule donors (SMDs) for organic solar cells is often hindered by complex multiple-step synthesis and high synthetic complexity, restricting their figure of merit (FOM). In this study, we reported two simple medium-bandgap A-D-A-type SMDs, AW-01 and AW-02, featuring the same dialkoxybenzene as a central core and two indanedione as terminal electron withdrawing units, but differed in π-linkers in their donor units (thiophene for AW-01 and ethylenedioxythiophene for AW-02). Both donors were synthesized via a facile four-step synthetic route using direct C-H arylation and Knoevenagel condensation reactions without hazardous reagents. An intramolecular noncovalent interaction strategy was employed to enhance molecular planarity; notably, AW-02 exhibits multiple O···S and O···H interactions, leading to backbone rigidification and J-aggregation. AW-02 shows complementary absorption with the Y6 acceptor over 450-900 nm and suitable energy level alignment. The nonhalogen solvent-processed all-small-molecule OSCs based on AW-02/Y6 achieved a high PCE of 15.11%, significantly outperforming AW-01 (7.49%). The superior performance of AW-02 is primarily attributed to its higher Jsc and FF, arising from enhanced charge transport, balanced hole and electron mobilities, low radiative energy losses, and reduced trap-assisted recombination, matching the highest efficiencies reported for additive-free binary SMD-based OSCs. This work demonstrates a promising strategy for developing simple, low-cost, and highly efficient SMDs for future scalable ASM-OSCs, highlighting their potential to replace high-efficiency polymer donors and fused SMDs.

Incorporating a third component (an electron donor or an electron acceptor) into binary bulk heterojunctions to create ternary active layers is an effective approach for enhancing photovoltaic performance. In this study, we designed and synthesized a medium-bandgap asymmetrical non-fused ring A-DA'-D1-A non-fullerene acceptor NFA-12, which includes an asymmetric N, S-heterocycle DA' core, a thiophene donor (D1), and weakly electron-withdrawing 1,3-diethyl-2-thiobarbituric acid (DTBA) terminal acceptor (A) units as the terminal unit. NFA-12 displays significant dipole moments in both the ground (2.37 D) and excited states (5.76 D) and effectively diminishes intramolecular charge transfer while increasing the acceptor's bandgap. NFA-12 exhibits modest molecular crystallinity, making it an appropriate third component for the PM6:NFA-4 blend and optimizing the ternary blend's morphology. Consequently, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the optimized PM6:NFA-12:NFA-4 ternary bulk heterojunction layer achieved a PCE of 17.91%, surpassing that of PM6:NFA-4 (14.29%) and PM6:NFA-12 (14.35%). Integrating the high-dipole-moment asymmetric non-fullerene acceptor NFA-12 as a guest acceptor in ternary organic solar cells can significantly enhance photovoltaic performance, likely due to the appropriate active layer's film morphology, reduced energy loss, and improved exciton utilization via energy transfer from NFA-12 to NFA-4, all of which together increase the PCE of ternary organic solar cells. Our study emphasizes the significance of molecular design in controlling dipole moments and electron density when synthesizing medium-bandgap asymmetric non-fused ring non-fullerene acceptors, providing a highly effective guest acceptor for high-performance ternary OSCs.

Organic solar cells (OSCs) are emerging as promising candidates for sustainable, flexible photovoltaic technologies due to their lightweight nature, mechanical flexibility, and solution-processability. In this work, we present a comprehensive study on the PM6(PBDB-T-2F) polymer donor to understand the influence of spin-coating speed on its optical, structural, charge transport, and stability characteristics, and we also investigate Ag–V₂O₅-modified PM6 (PBDB-T-2F) thin films to elucidate how processing-induced morphology governs interfacial electronic coupling, optoelectronic properties, and charge transport. Systematic analyses reveal that higher spin-coating speeds yield smoother and more continuous thin films which provide better charge transport pathways; however, they also reduce film thickness, leading to diminished optical absorption and increased thermal stress, which results in partial degradation of the PM6 polymer chains. In contrast, films processed at lower spin speeds exhibit enhanced optical absorption, improved structural integrity, and superior morphological stability. For optimization, various characterization techniques, including UV–visible spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, photoluminescence spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) were employed to investigate the optical, structural, and morphological properties of the films. These findings provide critical insights into processing–structure–performance relationships and offer practical guidelines for optimizing scalable fabrication of high-efficiency OSCs. Films incorporating Ag–V₂O₅ on PM6 exhibit a marked enhancement in absorption intensity along with a pronounced red-shift and spectral broadening, resulting in an effective optical band-gap reduction from 1.86 eV (pristine PM6) to 1.62 eV in Ag–V₂O₅–PM6 films. Raman spectroscopy shows suppression and broadening of vibrational modes, indicating strong interfacial coupling, restricted molecular vibrations, and reduced disorder. Photoluminescence (PL) analysis further confirms stabilization of excited states and suppression of non-radiative decay pathways. Correlated UV–Vis, Raman, and PL analyses indicate that these effects originate from intrinsic interfacial modification induced by Ag–V₂O₅, rather than film thickness or processing artifacts, providing direct evidence of band-gap engineering, molecular stabilization, and enhanced electronic properties. The correlated optical and spectroscopic analyses indicate that these improvements originate from intrinsic interfacial modification induced by Ag–V₂O₅ rather than film thickness or processing artifacts, indicating band-gap engineering, molecular stabilization, and enhanced electronic properties.

Quinoidal porphyrinoids represent a promising class of electron accepting materials due to their extended π conjugation, strong electron affinity, and structural rigidity, yet their application in organic solar cells (OSCs) remains unexplored. This work presents the design and synthesis of a nickel based quinoidal porphyrinoid (NiQP) and its implementation as an n type acceptor in bulk heterojunction OSCs using PM6 as the donor polymer. NiQP exhibits broad absorption extending into the near-infrared region and a narrow optical bandgap of approximately 1.44 eV, enabling complementary light harvesting with PM6. PM6:NiQP devices deliver a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 8.47% in as cast films, which increases to 12.51% after solvent vapor annealing (SVA), mainly due to enhanced short circuit current density and fill factor. Photophysical and electrical analyses show that SVA improves nanoscale morphology, exciton diffusion, and dissociation efficiency, while suppressing bimolecular and trap assisted recombination. Energy loss analysis further indicates reduced radiative and non radiative recombination losses in SVA treated devices, accompanied by lower Urbach energy and diminished energetic disorder. These results demonstrate the potential of quinoidal porphyrinoids as efficient electron acceptors and provide guidelines for molecular design and processing strategies in next generation OSCs.

In this report, we have designed a wide bandgap D1-(DA')-D2 polymer, denoted as P154, based on BDT with thiazole side chains, a D1 thiophene donor unit, and a thieno[3,2-b]pyrrolobenzotriazole (TPBTA) (DA') acceptor unit, which exhibit a dipole moment of 1.52 D and a deep highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) energy level of -5.38 eV. Employing the narrow bandgap non-fused asymmetric non-fullerene acceptor NFA-4, the optimized air-processed OSCs based on the P154 : NFA-4 active layer showed a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 15.15%, which is superior to that of the PBDB-T : NFA-4 counterpart fabricated under identical conditions (12.86%). The higher PCE for the P154 : NFA-4 relative to PBDB-T : NFA-4 is attributed to the increased value of the short circuit current (JSC), open circuit voltage (VOC), and fill factor (FF), which are linked to the fact that the exciton diffusion and its subsequent dissociation in the former device are more effective than that for the latter device. When an optimal amount of P154 is incorporated into the PBDB-T : NFA-4 blend, the corresponding ternary OSCs exhibit a PCE of 16.96%, which is higher than that of the binary BHJ counterparts. The enhancement in the PCE for ternary OSCs is associated with balanced charge transport, a prolonged charge carrier lifetime, and faster extraction of charge carriers.

A ternary organic solar cell (TOSC) P5 :PC 71 BM:Y6 (1:0.2:1) composed of an electron donor 3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT)/diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP)‐containing [Pt] (II) polyyne oligomer P5 with the acceptors PC 71 BM and Y6 shows a significant enhancement of the average power conversion efficiency (PCE) to 16.0% in comparison to the reported binary organic solar cells (OSCs) ( P5 :PC 71 BM (1:1.4), PCE = 9.4%; P5 :Y6 (1:1.2), PCE = 14.8%). Photophysical investigations carried out on the two binaries and on the ternary highlight the role of PC 71 BM to increase the rise time of electron transfer and to decrease recombination processes. Investigations of Y6‐containing active layers by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and high‐resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR‐TEM) show the presence of fibers, which highlights the assistance of Y6 in the nanostructuration of the blends. The higher PCE of the TOSC is explained with larger values of short‐circuit current density ( J SC ) from a broader absorption range and a superior value of fill factor (FF) supported by the faster mobilities and more balanced µ e / µ h . This work spotlights the beneficial role of the two acceptors in the TOSC. It explains the achievement of the highest average PCE of 16.0% for [Pt] polyyne oligomers to this date.

A donor-acceptor-donor (D-A-D) molecule, denoted as RC18, consisting of two nickel-porphyrin terminal donor units (D) and a selenophene-flanked diketopyrrolopyrrole central core, connected via an ethynylene linker has been synthesized. The highest occupied molecular orbital and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital energy levels were measured showing values of -5.49 eV and -3.75 eV, respectively. We have utilized RC18 as donor along with two acceptors, DICTF and Y6, for OSCs and found that power conversion efficiencies were 12.10% and 12.59% for RC18:DICTF and RC18:Y6, respectively. The complementary absorption profiles of RC18, DICTF and Y6, along with the intermediate LUMO level of DICTF between RC18 and Y6, led to the fabrication of ternary organic solar cells. RC18:DICTF:Y6 based ternary attained power conversion efficiency of 16.06%. The observed enhancement in the PCE is attributed to efficient exciton utilization through energy transfer from DICTF to Y6, increased donor-acceptor interfacial area, suppressed charge carrier recombination and improved molecular ordering. These all factors contribute to improvements in short-circuit current density (JSC) and fill factor (FF). Additionally, the open-circuit voltage (VOC) of the ternary OSC lies between those of the two binary OSCs indicating the formation of an alloy between the two acceptors.

Bulk-heterojunction devices with D18 and Y12 as active material were fabricated with an inverted ITO/zinc oxide/active material/molybdenum (III) oxide/Ag structure. Donor D18 and acceptor Y12 have complementary absorption spectra covering the visible range (300-800 nm). Furthermore, the energy layer alignment of these materials also makes it easier for charge generation and transport. All these factors lead to exploiting the possibility of using these organic solar cells (OSCs) for indoor photovoltaic (IPV) applications. The devices prepared previously were soaked in light (AM1.5 G) and illuminated under three types of white LED: warm white, standard white, and cool white. The intensities of the lights were varied, and the photovoltaic parameters of the cells were recorded. The variation of photovoltaic parameters with the intensity and color-correlated temperature (CCT) of different lights was thoroughly studied in this work. The external quantum efficiency of devices was also recorded. Here, we obtained cells with a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 12.88% in AM1.5 G, which went up to 27.58% in indoor lighting. All the devices were prepared without the nitrogen glovebox and were characterized in ambient conditions, which is the first step toward commercializing and integrating the cells in the Internet of Things (IoTs). IPV, being an emerging field, the study of photovoltaic parameters under varied intensity of light and different lights reveals a lot of information about the behavior of cells. Such a study has never been performed before, and the correlation between intensity and CCT of light with photovoltaic parameters and PCE unveils invaluable information about indoor OSCs. The results of this study could potentially aid in optimizing and developing OSC for self-sustaining IoTs in the near future.

In this work, colloidal quantum dot solar cells are fabricated with directly synthesized PbS-I colloidal quantum dots as n-type materials and polymers (PTB7-Th and PBDB-T) instead of conventional p-type (PbS-EDT) layers. The direct synthesis of PbS-I colloidal QDs made it possible to bypass the ligands-exchange process, enabling the fabrication process to be much simpler than the conventional counterparts available. Furthermore, the devices were characterized both in 1 Sun (AM 1.5G) and in dark conditions to study the photovoltaic and diode performance. The PbS-CQD solar cells based on PTB7-Th achieved the superior PCE of 6.24

The composition of the bulk heterojunction active layers in organic solar cells is crucial to their photovoltaic performance. Highly efficient organic solar cells have been constructed by the so-called ternary approach due to its process simplicity and diverse donor and acceptor materials. In the study described here, the simple medium-bandgap closed-shell quinoidal A-D-A non-fullerene small molecule acceptor QDT1, i.e., 4,4-dihexyl-4H-cyclopenta[2,1-b:3,4-b ']dithiophene (CPDT), was used as a guest acceptor in the PBDB-T:Y6 host binary active layer to fabricate ternary organic solar cells. QDT1 has an absorption profile that is complementary to those of the host active materials (PBDB-T and Y6). This matching of profiles is beneficial for light-harvesting and ultimately enhances the photocurrent in the OSC devices. Ternary organic solar cells fabricated in ambient conditions with the optimized PBDB-T : QDT1 : Y6 (1.0 : 0.2 : 1.0) active layer gave an overall power conversion efficiency of 13.31%, which is better than that of the PBDB-T:Y6 counterpart (11.17%). The higher PCE in the ternary system is mainly attributed to the higher short circuit photocurrent and fill factor along with a decreased energy loss. The increases in photocurrent and fill factor can both be attributed to faster exciton dissociation, energy transfer from QDT1 to Y6, more rapid charge extraction, extended charge carrier lifetime and lower charge recombination. The organic solar cells based on a PBDB-T:QDT1 active layer provided a PCE greater than 23% under indoor illumination (white LED).

Herein, we synthesized a new non-fused small molecule acceptor based on BODIPY based, named NZQ-1 by the Knoevenagel condensation reaction, where the BODIPY unit and benzothiadiazole moiety is linked by a phenyl spacer in the meso-position to form "push-pull" effect between electron donor (D) and electron acceptor (A) units and its optical and electrochemical properties were investigated. The lowest unoccupied molecular orbital of NZQ-1 is upshifted as compared to Y6 acceptor, which is helpful for attaining the high VOC of the bulkheterojunction organic solar cells. The photophysical properties and frontier energy levels of NZQ-1 are well aligned with polymer donor PBDB-T as well as with narrow bandgap acceptor Y6. We have incorporated NZQ-1 into the PBDB-T:Y6 binary film and the ternary organic solar cells gave a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 14.42 %, which is higher than that for the binary counterparts, i.e., 11.78 % and 9.76 %, for PBDB-T:Y6 and PBDB-T:NZQ-1, respectively. The increased PCE for ternary OSC is associated as the effective utilization of excitons generated in NZQ-1 phase via energy transfer from NZQ-1 to Y6, improved exciton dissociation via increased donor/acceptor interfacial area and suppressed charge carrier recombination.