CC BY-NC 3.0 UnportedEngel, Lukas F.González-García, LolaKraus, Tobias2023-02-242023-02-242022https://oa.tib.eu/renate/handle/123456789/11497http://dx.doi.org/10.34657/10531We 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−1enghttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0540Direct nanoimprintElectronic performanceFlexible electrodesLine-widthMetal lineMetal nanostructureNano scaleNanostructure morphologiesOpto-electronicsTransparent electrodeArticle