Flexible and transparent electrodes imprinted from metal nanostructures: morphology and opto-electronic performance

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Date
2022
Volume
4
Issue
16
Journal
Series Titel
Book Title
Publisher
Cambridge : Royal Society of Chemistry
Link to publishers version
Abstract

We directed the self-assembly of nanoscale colloids via direct nanoimprint lithography to create flexible transparent electrodes (FTEs) with metal line widths below 3 μm in a roll-to-roll-compatible process. Gold nanowires and nanospheres with oleylamine shells were imprinted with soft silicone stamps, arranged into grids of parallel lines, and converted into metal lines in a plasma process. We studied the hierarchical structure and opto-electronic performance of the resulting grids as a function of particle geometry and concentration. The performance in terms of optical transmittance was dominated by the line width. Analysis of cross-sections indicated that plasma sintering only partially removed the insulating ligands and formed lines with thin conductive shells and a non-conductive core. We provide evidence that the self-assembly of high-aspect nanowires can compensate for defects of the stamp and substrate irregularities during imprinting, while spheres cannot. The wire-based electrodes thus outperformed the sphere-based electrodes at ratios of optical transmittance to sheet resistance of up to ≈ 0.9% Ωsq−1, while spheres only reached ≈ 0.55% Ωsq−1

Description
Keywords
Direct nanoimprint, Electronic performance, Flexible electrodes, Line-width, Metal line, Metal nanostructure, Nano scale, Nanostructure morphologies, Opto-electronics, Transparent electrode
Citation
Engel, L. F., González-García, L., & Kraus, T. (2022). Flexible and transparent electrodes imprinted from metal nanostructures: morphology and opto-electronic performance. 4(16). https://doi.org//10.1039/d2na00259k
Collections
License
CC BY-NC 3.0 Unported