@phdthesis{Maurer2017,
  author    = {Maurer, Johannes},
  title     = {Ultrathin gold nanowires for transparent electronics},
  organization    = {INM - Leibniz-Institut f{\"u}r Neue Materialien},
  doi       = {10.22028/D291-26843},
  school    = {Universit{\"a}t des Saarlandes},
  pages     = {90},
  year      = {2017},
  abstract  = {Transparent electrodes (TEs) are key components of modern optoelectronic devices like touch screens, solar cells, and OLEDs, but an inherent trade-off between high electrical conductivity and optical transparency limits the available material range. Indium tin oxide (ITO) has been dominating the market, but cannot provide the mechanical flexibility that novel devices based on polymer substrates require; high process temperatures required for high-grade ITO exceed the thermal budget of many polymers. Solutionprocessed metal grids from nanoscale building blocks are a promising alternative providing superior mechanical flexibility at cost-effective and scalable fabrication with low thermal budget. For this dissertation, ultrathin gold nanowires (AuNWs) from wet-chemical synthesis were explored as novel base material for TEs. Plasma sintering was shown to ameliorate the wires' high contact resistances and poor stability. A novel nanoimprinting process was developed to pattern AuNWs into grids. The method relies on the large flexibility of the AuNWs and their ability to self-assemble into continuous hierarchical superstructures in the cavities of a pre-patterned elastomeric stamp. The process yielded ordered grids with submicron linewidth at low thermal budget, thus going beyond state-of-theart printed grids. The grids also showed competitive optoelectronic properties and superior mechanical flexibility to the incumbent materials and were applied as TEs in touch sensors.},
  language  = {en}
}