Poly[quinacridone-co-quaterthiophenel (PQCQT) was synthesized through a Suzuki coupling reaction by introducing the characterization and self-assembly of quinacridone and quaterthiophene derivatives. The PQCQT was dissolved in a common organic solvent with an M-n, value of 52.9 kg/mol. The optical band gap energy of the PQCQT was similar to the P3HT at 2.12 eV. The energy of the HOMO of the PQCQT was -5.10 eV, and the energy of the LUMO was -2.98 eV. The results of the X-ray diffraction measurement showed that the Lamellar d-spacing (d(1)) of the out-of-plane PQCQT was 23.2 angstrom, and the pi-pi stacking distance (d(x)) between the layers was 3.5 A. A bulk-heterojunction type of polymer solar cell was produced with a structure of ITO/PEDOT:PSS/active-layer/PFN/Al. When the ratio of the PQCQT and PCTIBM was 1:2, the device performed best with a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 23%. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.