Incorporating a third element in the active layer of organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices is a promising strategy towards improving the efficiency and stability of this technology while maintaining relatively low costs. While ternary organic solar cells (TOSCs) have been widely studied during the last decade, there has been a meteoric rise in TOSC research after a breakthrough efficiency of 14.1% was reported in 2017. Such values of efficiency make TOSC a promising third-generation solar technology, prompting worldwide research efforts into the inclusion of a third element for high-performance TOSCs. These efforts have further boosted their efficiency, which is currently approaching 19%, and improved the stability of OPVs. This review discusses the role of the third component in improving efficiency and stability, emphasizing the period after 2016, which witnessed huge increases in efficiency and the boom that ensued. Since their introduction in 2008 for applications in photovoltaics and optoelectronics, colloidal quantum dot solar cells (CQDSCs), among other third-generation technologies, have recently experienced a level of success comparable to TOSCs. Finally, we compare the performance of TOSCs to CQDSCs, a complementary third-generation solar technology.

在有机光伏（OPV）器件的有源层中加入第三种元素是一种很有前途的策略，可以提高该技术的效率和稳定性，同时保持相对较低的成本。虽然三元有机太阳能电池 (TOSC) 在过去十年中得到了广泛的研究，但在 2017 年报道了突破 14.1% 的效率后，TOSC 研究迅速崛起。这样的效率值使 TOSC 成为有前途的第三代太阳能电池技术，促使全球研究努力将第三个元素纳入高性能 TOSC。这些努力进一步提高了它们的效率，目前接近 19%，并提高了 OPV 的稳定性。本综述讨论了第三个组成部分在提高效率和稳定性方面的作用，强调了 2016 年之后的时期，这见证了效率的巨大提高和随之而来的繁荣。自 2008 年推出用于光伏和光电应用以来，胶体量子点太阳能电池 (CQDSC) 以及其他第三代技术最近取得了可与 TOSC 相媲美的成功水平。最后，我们将 TOSC 与 CQDSC（一种互补的第三代太阳能技术）的性能进行了比较。