Smart Coatings: Adapting to the Future

Dear Colleagues,

We wish to invite you to contribute to the Special Issue of MDPI Journal under the title “Smart Coatings: Adapting to the Future” It is a virgin area and your contribution to the body of knowledge will no doubt be highly edifying for academia and industry.

The rapid advancements in materials science and technology have paved the way for the development of innovative coatings with intelligent functionalities. Smart coatings, with their ability to respond to external stimuli, offer significant potential to revolutionize various industries. This Special Issue aims to explore the cutting-edge research and applications of smart coatings, highlighting their potential to address global challenges and improve our quality of life.

Smart coatings are designed to possess properties that can change or adapt in response to specific environmental conditions, such as temperature, pH, light, or stress. These dynamic properties enable a wide range of applications, including self-healing coatings, anti-fouling coatings, corrosion-resistant coatings, and self-cleaning surfaces. By incorporating advanced materials, nanotechnology, and functional additives, smart coatings can provide enhanced performance, durability, and sustainability.

This Special Issue will delve into the fundamental principles, design strategies, and characterization techniques of smart coatings. It will also explore the latest advancements in materials science, chemistry, and engineering that have enabled the development of these innovative coatings. In addition, the Issue will highlight the potential applications of smart coatings in various fields, such as the aerospace, automotive, marine, energy, and biomedical engineering fields.

We invite researchers, scientists, and engineers to contribute original research articles, review articles, and case studies that address the following topics:

• Smart materials for coatings: novel materials with responsive properties, such as shape-memory polymers, liquid crystals, and stimuli-responsive nanoparticles.
• Design and synthesis of smart coatings: strategies for incorporating functional additives, nanomaterials, and bioinspired designs into coatings.
• Characterization techniques for smart coatings: advanced methods for evaluating the structural, chemical, and mechanical properties of smart coatings.
• Applications of smart coatings: real-world applications in various industries, including self-healing, anti-corrosion, anti-fouling, and self-cleaning coatings.
• Challenges and future trends: emerging challenges and opportunities in the field of smart coatings.

By showcasing the latest research and developments in smart coatings, this Special Issue aims to inspire innovation and foster interdisciplinary collaborations.

Prof. Dr. Sylvester Abanteriba
Dr. Subir Ghosh
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Coatings is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.