A Mechanistic Study of Trityl Salt p-Doping for PTAA Based Hole Transport Layers in Perovskite Solar Cells
David Hardy a, Feng Wang a, Niansheng Xu a, Feng Gao a
a Linköping University, Sweden, SE-581 83, Linköping, Sweden
Oral, David Hardy, presentation 037
Publication date: 5th November 2025

Poly(triarylamine) (PTAA) has become the standard hole transport layer (HTL) of choice for fabricating stable NIP perovskite solar cells, due to its superior thermal and environmental stability. However, the efficiency of these PTAA based devices typically lags their 2,2′,7,7′-tetrakis(N,N-di-p-methoxyphenyl-amine)9,9′-spirobifluorene (Spiro-OMeTAD) counterparts. Addressing this performance shortfall typically requires complex post treatments, that may limit device scale up.

Here we utilise a rationally designed Trityl salt to instantly and efficiently p-dope PTAA directly in solution phase, facilitating high conductivity films. In our preliminary results we demonstrate devices that achieve high device performances that rival those of Spiro-OMeTAD and surpass the stabilities of traditional Spiro-OMeTAD recipes.

Crucially, we note that the trityl salt doping proceeds via a previously unreported oxygen induced pathway for PTAA and several other donor polymer materials. Therefore, we present the first mechanistic investigation into this novel mechanism.

This facile solution phase doping strategy proves promising both for the advancement of stable polymer based HTLs for NIP perovskite solar cells, as well as other charge transport applications in optoelectronics and beyond.

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