The enhancement of the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity of platinum nanoparticles (Pt NPs) using transition metal oxide (MO x , M = Ti, Nb, Ta, W, Y, and Zr) supports has been examined. To enable the use of transition metal oxides having low electric conductivity as supports, Pt NPs were formed on thin transition metal oxides formed on conducting cup-stacked carbon nanotubes (CSCNTs). Metal oxide composites (M1M2O x ) prepared from two types of transition metal (M1M2: TiNb, NbTa, and TaW) precursors were also used as supports. Pt NPs were photodeposited on MO x /CSCNTs and M1M2O x /CSCNT supports, resulting in MO x /CSCNT- and M1M2O x /CSCNT-supported Pt NP catalysts (abbreviated as Pt/MO x /CSCNTs and Pt/M1M2O x /CSCNTs). Their ORR activities in 0.1 M HClO4 aqueous solution were found to significantly depend on the atomic ratio of M1 and M2 in M1M2O x and the type of metal oxide support. A “volcano-type” dependence of the ORR activity (represented as the current density, mass activity, and specific activity at 0.9 V vs reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE)) on the Pt d-band center, relative to the Fermi level, was obtained in a series of the Pt/MO x /CSCNTs and Pt/M1M2O x /CSCNT catalysts. It was found that the d-band center values (ranging from −3.83 to −3.42 eV) of Pt deposited on MO x /CSCNTs and M1M2O x /CSCNT supports were lower than that (−3.39 eV) of the reference Pt/carbon black (CB) and that the Pt/TiNbO x (Ti/Nb = 1:6.6 in atomic ratio)/CSCNTs with a d-band center of −3.59 eV exhibited the maximum ORR activity, in agreement with the theoretical expectation that an ORR catalyst having a d-band center that is ca. 0.2 eV lower than that of Pt would have maximal ORR activity.

Triplet materials have been employed to achieve high-performing organic solar cells (OSCs) by extending the exciton lifetime and diffusion distances, while the triplet non-fullerene acceptor materials have never been reported for bulk heterojunction OSCs. Herein, for the first time, three triplet molecular acceptors based on tellurophene with different degrees of ring fusing were designed and synthesized for OSCs. Significantly, these molecules have long exciton lifetime and diffusion lengths, leading to efficient power conversion efficiency (7.52 %), which is the highest value for tellurophene-based OSCs. The influence of the extent of ring fusing on molecular geometry and OSCs performance was investigated to show the power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) continuously increased along with increasing the extent of ring fusing.

A non-fullerene acceptor with a high Ne value is efficient to enhance Voc as the third component for OSCs, leading to an efficiency of ∼11%.

A novel high photovoltaic performance small molecule was achieved through introducing S⋯N noncovalent conformational locks.

Poly(3‐hexylthiophene) (P3HT)‐based organic solar cells (OSCs) have attracted much attention due to their advantages of low‐cost production and matured roll‐to‐roll manufacture. However, the efficiency of P3HT‐based OSCs lag much behind the non‐P3HT ones due to their negligible absorption of long wavelengths of light over 650 nm, high‐lying highest occupied molecular orbitals (HOMO), and difficulty of controlling morphology. In this study, the alkyl chains of the nonfullerene acceptors are replaced with alkoxy chains to achieve synergistic enhancement of all three parameters ( short circuit current density (JSC), open circuit voltage (VOC), and fill factor (FF)) and thus significant increase of power conversion efficiency for P3HT‐based OSCs. As a result, the OSCs exhibit a maxima efficiency of 6.6%. The P3HT‐based systems are systematically studied with optical spectroscopy, photoluminescence, cyclic voltametry, space charge limit current, grazing incident wide‐angle X‐ray scattering, transient absorption spectroscopy, transmission electron microscope, and atomic force microscopy to probe the mechanism, which reveal that introducing alkoxy chains simultaneously increases the energy levels of the HOMO and the lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals, enhances the light absorption, improves the rigidity of the backbone and charge transport mobility, and tunes the molecular orientation and film morphology, thus improving the photovoltaic performance. This contribution provides an important guidance in the design of novel nonfullerene acceptors for high‐performance P3HT‐based OSCs.