Advanced Biomaterials and Surface Coatings: Design, Characterization and Biomedical Applications

Dear Colleagues,

The field of biomaterials and surface coatings has witnessed remarkable progress in recent years, driven by the growing demand for advanced medical implants, tissue engineering scaffolds, and diagnostic devices that exhibit superior biocompatibility, functionality, and long-term performance. Surface properties play a pivotal role in determining the biological response to materials, influencing key processes such as protein adsorption, cell adhesion, proliferation, differentiation, and prevention of adverse reactions like inflammation, thrombosis, or bacterial colonization. Innovations in coating design—ranging from bioactive layers and nanostructured surfaces to smart, stimuli-responsive, and multifunctional coatings—have become essential for enhancing osseointegration, corrosion resistance, drug delivery, and antimicrobial efficacy in biomedical applications. This rapidly evolving research area bridges materials science, surface engineering, and clinical medicine, addressing critical challenges in healthcare and regenerative therapies.

This Special Issue, titled ‘Advanced Biomaterials and Surface Coatings: Design, Characterization and Biomedical Applications’, aligns closely with the scope of Coatings, which encompasses the science and engineering of coatings, thin and thick films, surfaces, and interfaces, including functional coatings, characterization techniques, surface modification processes, and applied surface science. The journal has a dedicated section on Surface Coatings for Biomedicine and Bioengineering, and numerous previous Special Issues have successfully featured topics on biocompatible coatings, bioactive surfaces, and biomedical surface engineering, making this theme highly relevant and well within the journal's focus.

This Special Issue aims to collect cutting-edge contributions that advance the design, fabrication, in-depth characterization, and application of next-generation biomaterials and surface coatings for biomedical purposes. It seeks to gather a collection of at least 10 high-quality articles, which may enable the Special Issue to be compiled and printed in book form.

In this Special Issue, original research articles, reviews, and short communications are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

• The design and synthesis of novel biomaterials and functional coatings (e.g., bioactive, antibacterial, anti-fouling, or drug-eluting).
• Advanced deposition and surface modification techniques (e.g., plasma spraying, sol–gel, layer-by-layer assembly, CVD/PVD, and electrochemical methods).
• Comprehensive characterization of surface properties (e.g., topography, chemistry, wettability, mechanical behavior, and corrosion resistance) using state-of-the-art methods.
• In vitro and in vivo evaluation of biocompatibility, bioactivity, osseointegration, and tissue response.
• Multifunctional and stimuli-responsive coatings for implants, stents, catheters, tissue scaffolds, and diagnostic devices.
• Computational modeling and simulation of biomaterial surfaces and interfaces.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Yanbin Zhao
Dr. Chengbiao Ding
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.

• biomaterials
• surface coatings
• bioactive coatings
• biocompatibility
• surface modification
• biomedical applications
• antibacterial coatings
• osseointegration
• drug-eluting coatings