A series of novel donor-acceptor (D-A) random conjugated terpolymers P2-P4 along with the homopolymers P1 (BDT-DPP) and P5 (BDT-BTDQ) were designed and synthesized by copolymerizing a benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b]dithiophene (BDT) donor with an electron-deficient diketopyrrolo[3,4-c]pyrrole (DPP) unit and a benzothiadiazolo[3,4-e]quinoxaline (BTDQ) moieties of different electron-withdrawing strengths, and the resultant terpolymers showed broad absorption profile ranging from 300 to 1200 nm. The HOMO levels of the polymers were adjusted from -5.23 to -5.11 eV, and the optical bandgaps were controlled from 1.32 to 1.13 eV by changing the molar ratio of DPP and BTDQ acceptors. These terpolymers were used as a donor along with PC71BM as an acceptor for the creation of polymer solar cells, and the performance was optimized via variable the donor to acceptor ratio and solvent vapor annealing. The polymer solar cells made from the random terpolymer P3 showed the highest overall power conversion efficiency of (9.27%), which is higher than that for the corresponding homo-polymers counterparts, that is, P1 (7.27%) and P5 (7.68%). The results demonstrate that the designing of random D-A1-D-A2 terpolymers may be the best approach for efficient polymer solar cells. (c) 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2019, 57, 1478-1485