Organic solar cells have desirable properties, including low cost of materials, high-throughput roll-to-roll production, mechanical flexibility and light weight. However, all top-performance devices are at present processed using halogenated solvents, which are environmentally hazardous and would thus require expensive mitigation to contain the hazards. Together with his collabortors from The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Prof. Wei Ma from MSE has designed a hydrocarbon-based processing system that is not only more environmentally friendly but also yields cells with power conversion efficiencies of up to 11.7%. This work offers a simple yet effective approach towards highly efficient and environmentally friendly organic solar cells, which should contribute significantly to energy storage. The result has been published on the very first issue of the new Nature journal, Nature Energy.

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