Coatings

Journal Browser

► Journal Browser

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

It is my great pleasure to announce this Special Issue on “Recent Advancement in Thin Film Deposition, Characterization, and Surface Engineering (Second Volume)” in Coatings.

Thin film deposition, characterization, and surface engineering are eminent topics, attracting significant interest among the scientific community. The subjects include the experimental, theoretical, and fabricating issues associated with the development of new thin film materials and processes, novel methods of analysis and characterization, and approaches for industrial applications.

This Special Issue focuses on science and engineering for a wide spectrum of aspects related to thin films, coatings, and plasma technologies for sustainable energy, semiconductor, optoelectronics, flexible device, tribological, organic, biological, protective, and functional surface engineering. Submissions should be in the form of original research articles or authoritative review papers on the following, non-exhaustive list of topics:

Nanostructured and nanocomposite thin films;
Semiconductor, optoelectronic, and flexible device thin films;
Tribological and protective thin films;
Sustainable energy thin films;
Organic and biological thin films;
Metallic and high-entropy alloy thin films;
Theory, simulation, and modeling; quantitative surface analysis of thin films.

Prof. Dr. Ming-Tzer Lin
Guest Editor

Dr. Pei-Kang Sun
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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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.

Related Special Issue

Published Papers (2 papers)

Download All Papers

Research

16 pages, 749 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Optical Characterization of Inhomogeneous Thin Films Deposited onto Non-Absorbing Substrates

by Jan Dvořák, Jiří Vohánka, Vilma Buršíková, Daniel Franta and Ivan Ohlídal

Coatings 2023, 13(5), 873; https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings13050873 - 5 May 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1191

Abstract

In this study, a novel approach for characterizing the optical properties of inhomogeneous thin films is presented, with a particular focus on samples exhibiting absorption in some part of the measured spectral range. Conventional methods of measuring the samples only from the film side can be limited by incomplete information at the lower boundary of the film, leading to potentially unreliable results. To address this issue, depositing the thin films onto non-absorbing substrates to enable measurements from both sides of the sample is proposed. To demonstrate the efficacy of this approach, a combination of variable-angle spectroscopic ellipsometry and spectrophotometry at near-normal incidence was employed to optically characterize three inhomogeneous polymer-like thin films. The spectral dependencies of the optical constants were modeled using the Kramers–Kronig consistent model. It was found that it is necessary to consider thin, weakly absorbing transition layers between the films and the substrates. The obtained results show excellent agreement between the fits and the measured data, providing validation of the structural and dispersion models, as well as the overall characterization procedure. The proposed approach offers a method for optically characterizing a diverse range of inhomogeneous thin films, providing more reliable results when compared to traditional one-sided measurements. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advancement in Thin Film Deposition, Characterization, and Surface Engineering (Second Volume))

► Show Figures

Figure 1

19 pages, 8859 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Electrochemical Synthesis of a WO₃/MoS_x Heterostructured Bifunctional Catalyst for Efficient Overall Water Splitting

by Ramūnas Levinas, Natalia Tsyntsaru, Henrikas Cesiulis, Roman Viter, Karlis Grundsteins, Loreta Tamašauskaitė-Tamašiūnaitė and Eugenijus Norkus

Coatings 2023, 13(4), 673; https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings13040673 - 25 Mar 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1605

Abstract

Photo-/electrochemical water splitting can be a suitable method to produce “green” hydrogen and oxygen by utilizing renewable energy or even direct sunlight. In order to carry out photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting, a photoanode based on transition metal oxides, which absorbs photons and produces photoexcited electron–hole pairs, is needed. The positively charged holes can then participate in the water oxidation reaction. Meanwhile, a cathodic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) can occur more efficiently with electrocatalytic materials that enhance the adsorption of H⁺, such as MoS₂. In this study, it was shown that WO₃/MoS_x heterostructured materials can be synthesized by an electrochemical method called plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO). During this process, many micro-breakdowns of the oxide layer occur, causing ionization of the oxide and electrolyte. The ionized mixture then cools and solidifies, resulting in crystalline WO₃ with incorporated MoS_x. The surface and cross-sectional morphology were characterized by SEM-FIB, and the coatings could reach up to 3.48 μm thickness. Inclusion of MoS_x was confirmed by EDX as well as XPS. Synthesis conditions were found to have an influence on the band gap, with the lowest value being 2.38 eV. Scanning electrochemical microscopy was used to map the local HER activity and correlate the activity hotspots to MoS_x’s content and surface topography. The bifunctional catalyst based on a WO₃/MoS_x heterostructure was evaluated for PEC and HER water-splitting activities. As a photoanode, it could reach up to 6% photon conversion efficiency. For HER in acidic media, a Tafel slope of 42.6 mV·dec⁻¹ can be reached. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advancement in Thin Film Deposition, Characterization, and Surface Engineering (Second Volume))

► Show Figures