Novel Materials and Coatings for Functional, Protective, and Sustainable Textiles and Wearables
A special issue of Coatings (ISSN 2079-6412). This special issue belongs to the section "Surface Characterization, Deposition and Modification".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2026 | Viewed by 12
Special Issue Editors
Interests: multiscale numerical simulation of heat transfer in textiles and clothing; AI-driven design and performance evaluation of protective textiles
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Functional textiles and protective clothing are crucial for ensuring human safety and adaptability in hazardous and dynamic environments, ranging from firefighting to industrial and wildland-urban interface settings. However, traditional textiles often face limitations in thermal protection, mechanical durability under structural loading, and dynamic responsiveness to environmental hazards (such as smoke and aerosol contaminants). To overcome these challenges, the rapid advancement of surface modification technologies, additive manufacturing (3D printing) of composite structures, and data-informed design processes supported by computer vision and modeling techniques is revolutionizing the design of next-generation functional textiles. Research in this field is vital for developing intelligent, highly protective, and durable coated textiles that provide personalized thermal management, enhance structural integrity, integrate responsive materials (e.g., thermochromic systems), and mitigate occupational health risks through effective surface barrier functions.
This Special Issue aims to bring together innovative studies that deepen our understanding of surface phenomena, protective coatings, and textile interfaces. This Special Issue aligns with the scope of Coatings by presenting interdisciplinary research on coating deposition processes, functional multi-scale composites, and the theoretical and computational modeling of surfaces and interfaces. By focusing on advanced manufacturing processes (such as 3D printing of composite interfaces), computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling of heat and mass transfer across microclimates, digital design technologies for smart textiles, and AI-assisted modeling for exposure assessment and decontamination, this Special Issue provides a platform for disseminating advances that have the potential to significantly impact the design of next-generation protective and functional systems. The collection aspires to gather at least eight articles, which may be published as a dedicated book volume if this threshold is reached.
The scope of this Special Issue includes, but is not limited to, the following topics:
- Development and characterization of functional, protective, sustainable and smart coatings for textiles.
- Surface modification and advanced coating materials.
- Theoretical and computational modeling of heat and mass transfer at textile surfaces and interfaces.
- Development and evaluation of responsive coatings and smart textiles.
- 3D printing technologies for textile surface functionalization and composite interfaces.
- Microstructure-performance relationships and mechanical behavior of coated fabrics and multi-scale composites.
- Processes for coating deposition, surface functionalization and related advanced manufacturing.
- Surface adsorption, contamination, and decontamination strategies for protective textile coatings.
- Data-informed design, computer vision, and computational methodologies for functional textile systems and coatings.
We look forward to receiving your contributions.
Dr. Miao Tian
Dr. Zhenzhen Quan
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.
Keywords
- functional textiles
- surface modification
- additive manufacturing
- protective coatings
- sustainable textiles
- computational modeling
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