Abstract
Improving the elongation of intrinsically stretchable organic electronics typically prioritizes flexibility, which may increase the crack-onset strain at the expense of ductility. Here, we present a synergistic design that combines covalent crosslinking and silica filler reinforcement to construct a photoactive layer of organic photovoltaics (OPVs) with both elevated fracture strain and modulus. This interpenetrating network boosts the crack-onset strain to over 40% and raises the modulus by 5-fold to 1090 MPa. The silica filler promotes enhanced aggregation and molecular ordering in both donor and acceptor materials, enabling a power conversion efficiency exceeding 16% for intrinsically stretchable devices, with 80% of the initial efficiency retained under nearly 40% strain, which is one of the highest values reported to date for stretchable OPVs. These findings provide insights for developing stretchable and mechanically robust OPVs towards practical wearable applications.
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All data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article and its Supplementary Information. Source data have been deposited in the online submission system and are provided with this paper. Additional data are available from the corresponding author upon request. Source data are provided with this paper.
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Acknowledgements
This work was financially supported by Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (2023B1515040026), National Natural Science Foundation of China (52394273, 52373179), Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2024ZYGXZR076 and 2025ZYGXZR024), the TCL Science and Technology Innovation Fund (20242065), and the Fundamental and Interdisciplinary Disciplines Breakthrough Plan of the Ministry of Education of China. GIWAXS and RSoXS were performed at beamlines 7.3.3 and 11.0.1.2 at the Advanced Light Source, a U.S. DOE Office of Science User Facility under contract no. DE-AC02-05CH11231.
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X.L., W.Z., and L.Y. conceived the idea. X.L. designed and synthesized the materials and measured the basic properties of the materials. X.L. conducted the DFT and MD simulations. Y.L. conducted the finite element analysis. X.L., X.Liu, W.H., and W.Y. conducted the stretchability measurements. Z.Y. and W.Z. conducted the GIWAXS and RSoXS measurements and morphology analysis. J.W., X.Z., and D.M. conducted the transient absorption measurement and analysis. Z.L., X.L., and W.Z. designed and fabricated the stretchable OPV devices. X.L. wrote the first draft of the manuscript. W.Z., N.L. and L.Y. supervised the project. All the authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript.
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Luo, X., Liu, X., Yang, W. et al. A synergistic strategy of crosslinking and filler toughening enabling stretchable organic photovoltaics for wearable applications. Nat Commun (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-68000-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-68000-z
