Innovative Materials, Thin Films and Coatings for Advanced Energy and Hydrogen Applications

A special issue of Coatings (ISSN 2079-6412). This special issue belongs to the section "Surface Engineering for Energy Harvesting, Conversion, and Storage".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2026 | Viewed by 1287

Editors


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Guest Editor
Portici Research Centre, Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA), P.le E. Fermi 1, 80055 Portici, Italy
Interests: spectrally selective coatings; thin film deposition and characterization; optical, morphological, and structural analysis of materials; functional material and coatings for energy applications; hydrogen permeation membranes and related thin films

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Guest Editor
Portici Research Centre, Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA), P.le E. Fermi 1, 80055 Portici, Italy
Interests: deposition; processing and testing of organic and polymeric materials thin films; encapsulation; optical; electrical ageing; stability characterization organic optoelectronic devices

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Guest Editor
Portici Research Centre, Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA), P.le E. Fermi 1, 80055 Portici, Italy
Interests: functional materials for electronic and optoelectronic devices; organic and flexible optoelectronic devices (OLEDs) conductive polymers and transparent electrodes; printed electronics and advanced manufacturing techniques; thin films and printing-based fabrication processes for sustainable applications

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Guest Editor Assistant
Portici Research Centre, Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA), P.le E. Fermi 1, 80055 Portici, Italy
Interests: design and fabrication of functional thin films and coatings; optical, morphological, and structural analysis of thin films and coatings; modeling of functional materials and coatings for advanced energy and hydrogen applications

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Recent advances in materials science and surface engineering are enabling the development of high-performance thin films and functional coatings for a wide range of advanced energy technologies. Thin films and coatings play a crucial role in solar energy conversion, thermal management, hydrogen-related systems, and optoelectronic devices, where tailored optical, electronic, thermal, and structural properties are required to achieve high efficiency and long-term stability. Continuous progress in deposition techniques, material design, and multiscale characterization methods has significantly expanded the potential of innovative materials for next-generation energy applications.

This Special Issue aims to collate high-quality original research articles, reviews, and short communications focused on the design, fabrication, characterization, and modelling of advanced materials, thin films, and coatings for energy and hydrogen applications. Topics of interest include materials and coatings for solar and thermal systems, concentrated solar power technologies, thin films for hydrogen production, separation, and permeation, as well as materials for optoelectronic and energy-conversion devices. Contributions addressing novel processing approaches, nanostructured and multilayer architectures, optical, morphological, and structural characterization, durability, and structure–property–performance relationships are particularly encouraged.

Dr. Claudia Diletto
Dr. Maria Grazia Maglione
Dr. Salvatore Aprano
Guest Editor

Dr. Maria Rosa Fiorillo
Guest Editor Assistant

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-anonymized 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.

Keywords

  • thin films and coatings
  • functional materials for energy applications
  • solar and thermal coatings
  • hydrogen-related materials
  • optical and structural characterization

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

15 pages, 9796 KB  
Article
Magnetic Field Induced Spin State Optimization in Fe-Co Dual-Active Centers for Superior Trifunctional Water Splitting
by Yi Zheng, Xin Luo, Sizhe Li, Zhengxian Shen and Hui Su
Coatings 2026, 16(6), 659; https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings16060659 - 30 May 2026
Viewed by 548
Abstract
Faced with a global energy crisis and ecological degradation, overall water splitting (OWS) is a pivotal approach for renewable energy conversion and storage. However, its industrial application is hindered by the high energy barriers/sluggish kinetics of the anodic oxygen evolution reaction (OER), as [...] Read more.
Faced with a global energy crisis and ecological degradation, overall water splitting (OWS) is a pivotal approach for renewable energy conversion and storage. However, its industrial application is hindered by the high energy barriers/sluggish kinetics of the anodic oxygen evolution reaction (OER), as well as the scarcity of precious metal catalysts limiting large-scale deployment. Herein, a cobalt-based layered double hydroxide (Co-LDH) was used as the precursor, and a multi-strategy synergistic modification (hydrothermal synthesis, Fe doping, sulfurization, and external magnetic field magnetization) was applied to fabricate the Fe-Co3S4-MS-20 min electrocatalyst. This strategy establishes Fe-Co bimetallic synergistic active centers, and magnetic treatment modulates the electron configuration of Fe 3d orbitals without changing the material’s lattice spacing or morphology. Structural characterizations and electrochemical measurements were used to investigate the effects of combined modifications on the catalyst’s phase structure, morphology, electronic structure, and trifunctional catalytic performance toward the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), OER, and urea oxidation reaction (UOR). The Fe-Co3S4-MS-20 min catalyst exhibits a larger electrochemical active surface area, lower charge transfer resistance, and smaller Tafel slope in 1 M KOH, it achieves overpotentials of 165 mV for HER (10 mA·cm−2) and 310 mV for OER (100 mA·cm−2), along with superior UOR performance and long-term stability. In situ impedance and Raman spectroscopy confirm that magnetization accelerates charge transfer and promotes in situ reconstruction. Synergistic multi-strategy regulation optimizes the electronic structure of active centers, reducing electrocatalytic energy barriers. This work provides new insights into designing high-performance non-precious metal electrocatalysts and offers experimental support for external magnetic field regulation in electrocatalyst modification. Full article
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