A water/alcohol-soluble small molecule based on the commercially available pigment quinacridone is employed as an electron transport layer in organic photovoltaics. The quinacridone derivative is utilized in solution-processed bulk-heterojunction solar cells to improve primarily the fill factor of the devices, contributing to an upwards of 19% enhancement in the power conversion efficiency relative to the control devices with no electron transport layer. The facile synthesis of the quinacridone derivative coupled with the ease of device fabrication via solution processing provide a simple, yet effective means of improving the performance of existing organic photovoltaic cells.