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Energy Materials

Yu et al. Energy Mater. 2026, 6, 600044 DOI:10.20517/energymater.2026.25

Asymmetric carbazole-based self-assembled
monolayers enable simultaneous efficiency and
stability enhancement in organic solar cells

Yangyang Yu , Xin Hong , Yuan Li , Zhengfei Wang , Feiyu Kang , Zhiwei Jiao , Guodan Wei 2,*
1,*
2
2,*
1
2
2
Keywords:
Organic solar cells,
self-assembled monolayer,
asymmetric molecules, hole
transport layer
Citation: Yu, Y.; Hong, X.;
Li, Y.; Wang, Z.; Kang, F.;
Jiao, Z.; Wei, G. Asymmetric
carbazole-based
self-assembled monolayers
enable simultaneous
efficiency and stability
enhancement in organic
solar cells. Energy Mater.
2026, 6, 600044.
https://dx.doi.org/10.20517
/energymater.2026.25
Abstract
Received: 20 Feb 2026
First Decision: 12 Mar Self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) have emerged as powerful interfacial modifiers for
2026 high-performance organic solar cells. Currently reported asymmetric substitution
Revised: 28 Mar 2026 strategies have primarily focused on tuning molecular dipole moments and work functions
Accepted: 16 Apr 2026 or enhancing π-π stacking to improve interfacial quality. In contrast, our work reports an
Published: 6 May 2026
asymmetric carbazole-based SAM molecule, P-4PACz, featuring a unilateral phenyl
Academic Editor: substituent at the 3-position of the carbazole core. This asymmetric design alters the π-π
Sining Yun stacking mode to a tightly packed yet slipped configuration, which enables ordered
Copy Editor:
Fangling Lan solid-state assembly while suppressing excessive pre-aggregation in solution. Such an
Production Editor: approach enables a favorable balance between solution processability and interfacial
Fangling Lan ordering. Compared with its symmetric analogue 4PACz, P-4PACz exhibits reduced
surface energy on indium tin oxide, improved energy-level alignment, and suppressed
molecular aggregation, resulting in enhanced active-layer wetting and interfacial contact.
This optimized interface promotes efficient hole extraction while mitigating interfacial
recombination losses. Consequently, P-4PACz-based devices achieve a champion power
conversion efficiency (PCE) of 19.03%, outperforming 4PACz (champion 18.28%) and

1 College of Science, China Jiliang University, Hangzhou 310018, Zhejiang, China.
2 Institute of Materials Research, Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen 518000, Guangdong,
China.

*Correspondence to: Prof. Guodan Wei, Prof. Feiyu Kang, Institute of Materials Research, Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate
School, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen 518000, Guangdong, China. E-mail: weiguodan@sz.tsinghua.edu.cn; fykang@sz.tsinghua.edu.cn;
Prof. Zhiwei Jiao, College of Science, China Jiliang University, Hangzhou 310018, Zhejiang, China. E-mail: jzwgj@163.com

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