Advances in the Preparation and Characterization Techniques for Developing Coating Materials and Applications

Dear Colleagues,

We would like to invite you to submit your works to a Special Issue on “Advances in the Preparation and Characterization Techniques for Developing Coating Materials and Applications”. This Special Issue will bring together papers with topics involved in thin film/coating preparations and characterisation.

The preparation techniques could include molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), pulsed laser deposition (PLD), magnetron sputtering, thermal evaporation, ultrasonic spray pyrolysis (USP), spray coating, dip-coating, drop casting, electrospinning and chemical vapor deposition (CVD) to develop coating materials, thin films, and nanostructured films.

The characterization of studied materials could include clarifications of crystal structures (XRD, HRTEM), morphology (AFM, SEM), composition–stoichiometry (EDS, XPS), electrical and magnetotransport properties (Hall effect, PPMS), the Seebeck coefficient, optical (UV-visible, PL, Raman spectroscopy), magnetic (SQUID), mechanical properties (nanoindentation), and the functional properties.

The aim of this Special Issue is to provide a snapshot of the state-of-the-art in the preparation and characterization of thermoelectrics, topological insulators, functional metal oxides, multiferroics, semiconductors, nanomaterials and their (potential) applications.

In particular, the topics of interest include but are not limited to:

• Progress in thin-film growths and characterization techniques;
• Processing condition–structure–property relations;
• Nanomechanical properties of thin films studied by the nanoindentation technique;
• Structural, morphological, optical, electrical, magnetic, thermoelectric, and functional properties of thin films and coating materials;
• Photocatalytic degradation of pollutants and photoelectrochemical activity of coating materials;
• Theory and modeling of the physical properties of coating materials;
• Atomistic simulation and numerical analysis.

Prof. Dr. Sheng-Rui Jian
Dr. Phuoc Huu Le
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.