Tailoring doped organic nanoparticles as selective hole transporters for printed non-fullerene organic solar cells

Most interface materials for organic solar cells (OSCs) were originally optimized for fullerene-based systems and are now being adapted for non-fullerene acceptor (NFA) based solar cells. This reliance on established interface materials results in a limited choice of interface materials for NFA based OSCs. For vacuum processed organic devices, the concept of doped interface materials is exceptionally successful, but has not yet been translated to modern NFA based devices due to solution processing constraints requiring orthogonal solubility. Herein, we report a novel concept for the development of solution-processed HTL in inverted n-i-p architecture OSCs using doped organic nanoparticles (D-NPs), overcoming solvent compatibility limitations and enabling scalable production processes. We demonstrate that the functional key interface properties of D-NPs HTLs can be tailored independently over a wide regime. Specifically, conductivity and work function can be optimized separately by varying the dopant concentration and the material system. By using D-NPs as HTL in the n-i-p architecture, power conversion efficiencies (PCE) of over 12 % are achieved for PM6:Y6 based devices. The D-NPs HTL concept is successfully applied to a variety of organic semiconductors used in photovoltaics and opens a new class of tailorable interface materials for solution-processed HTL materials. [Display omitted] •Doped organic nanoparticles for HTL are demonstrated for the first time.•The HTL possesses tailorable properties, and good compatibility with blade coating.•High performance OSC device with inverted structure is achieved.