Description

Significant breakthroughs in thin film nanocoatings, synthesis of ZnO coatings, carbon-free nanocoatings, and titania nanocoatings for applications as anti-corrosion coatings, energy storage, food and beverages, and as architectural coatings are seen to be driving the advanced coatings and surface technologies business. It is observed that coatings are gaining high interest when they incorporate multifunctional properties such as hydrophobicity and self-healing. Also, new methods have been developed to produce coatings wherein the heat treatment temperature is of 300 degrees C, which is much lower than that of traditional solid-state annealing methods; this breakthrough has enabled solutions to overcome drawbacks of lithium-based storage devices pertaining to ageing and robustness. Today, nanocoatings are playing a vital role in increasing the efficiency and performance in industries by enabling advantages such as high temperature resistance. Further, fabricating of coatings with photocatalytic activity that is higher than that of commercial TiO2 for building exteriors and development of the coatings that have transparency, which is close to transmittance of bare glass has been obtained by using ZnO are a key area of interest. Researchers are working toward incremental developments to enable new industrial and commercial benefits of nanocoatings, the innovations profiled in this issue of the Advanced Coating & Surface Technology TOE are recent research innovations that are focused toward high performance of advanced coatings and surface technologies.

The Advanced Coating & Surface Technology TechVision Opportunity Engine (TOE) provides intelligence on technologies, products, processes, applications and strategic insights on various coatings across industries. This encompasses protective and functional coatings such as antimicrobial coatings, food coatings, energy-saving coatings, smart glazing, hydrophilic, hydrophobic and super hydrophobic coatings, corrosion protection coatings, barrier coatings and paints.

The Chemicals and Advanced Materials cluster tracks research & innovation trends and developments across specialty chemicals, plastics, polymers, chemicals, bio-chemicals, metals, coatings, thin films, surface treatments, composites, alloys, oil and gas, fuel additives, fibers and several other related technologies and its impact and application across industries.

Keywords: ZnO nanocoatings, zinc acetate, polymeric thin film nanocoatings, sol-gel method, functionalized ZnO coatings, ultra-fine core-shell nanoparticles, titania nanocoatings