NOVELTY - The surface-embedded structure (120) comprises a host material (132) having an embedding surface, additives (130) embedded into the host material and localized within an embedding region (138) adjacent to the embedding surface (134), and a substrate. A thickness of the embedding region is less than 20% of an overall thickness of the host material. The additives: are electrically conductive and semiconducting additives; include a nano-sized additive and a micron-sized additive; and are embedded into the transparent substrate and a first coating.    USE - The surface-embedded structure is useful as opaque conductive electrodes, transparent conductive electrodes (TCE) in solar cells, displays and lighting devices, touch panels, smart windows, electronic-paper, electromagnetic interference/radio frequency shields, electromagnetic pulse protection devices, anti-static shields, anti-dust shields, meta-materials, photonic devices, plasmonic devices, antennas, transistors e.g. p-n junction devices, thin film transistors and field effect transistors, diodes, LEDs, organic LEDs, sensors, actuators, construction materials, building materials, electronics casings, consumer devices, memory storage devices, energy storage devices e.g. batteries, capacitors, and ultra-capacitors, solar energy generation devices, piezoelectric energy generation devices, radio frequency identification devices, thermal conductors and cooling/heating devices, interconnects, hybrid devices, and frequency-selective devices, common electrodes in color filter plates that are useful in LCDs, and solid state lighting devices.    ADVANTAGE - The surface-embedded structure is highly scalable, and can be efficiently, rapidly and economically manufactured with high electrical and thermal conductivity, light transmittance, electromagnetic field shielding or absorption, robustness and smoothness, lightweight, excellent durability, high transparency and flexibility.    DETAILED DESCRIPTION - The surface-embedded structure (120) comprises a host material (132) having an embedding surface, additives (130) embedded into the host material and localized within an embedding region (138) adjacent to the embedding surface (134), and a substrate. A thickness of the embedding region is less than 20% of an overall thickness of the host material. The additives: are electrically conductive and semiconducting additives; include a nano-sized additive and a micron-sized additive; and are embedded into the transparent substrate and a first coating; and comprise a nanotube, a nanowire and/or a nanoparticle. The thickness of the embedding region is less than 2 times the characteristic dimension of the additives. One of the additives is embedded into the host material to an extent of more than 100% of the characteristic dimension but localized adjacent to the embedding surface. The host material corresponds to a transparent substrate and the first coating. The transparent substrate includes a polymer and/or ceramic. The first coating is disposed on the substrate. The embedding surface is faced away from the substrate. A second coating is disposed on the first coating and coupled to the additives, and includes an electrically conductive material. The electrically conductive material is a transparent material, and includes a doped metal oxide and/or an electrically conductive polymer. The additives are loaded in the host material above an electrical percolation threshold. The surface-embedded structure has a transmittance of 85%. The structure has a sheet resistance of less than 25 Omega /sq.    DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING(S) - The diagram shows a schematic view of a surface-embedded structure.    Surface-embedded structure (120)    Additives (130)    Host material (132)    Embedding surface (134)    Embedding region. (138)