Single-component organic photovoltaics (SC-OPVs) offer an innovative approach to the traditional bulk-heterojunction organic photovoltaics (BHJ-OPVs) by chemically bonding the donor and acceptor materials within a single molecule. This approach has the potential not only to reduce the manufacturing costs but also to stabilize the photoactive layer against common morphological degradation processes typically observed in BHJ-OPVs. However, SC-OPVs exhibit lower power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) compared with their BHJ counterparts, primarily due to suboptimal exciton splitting and charge-transport dynamics that have not been extensively discussed in the literature. This review aims to provide physical insights into these loss mechanisms, discuss the underlying scientific challenges, and finally propose suggestions that could potentially elevate the performance of SC-OPVs to meet or exceed that of BHJ-OPVs.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2542435126000814