Functional Thin-Film Coatings for Batteries: Recent Advances in Surface and Interface Engineering
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: 20 November 2026 | Viewed by 283
Special Issue Editors
Interests: nanostructured coatings; metal oxide coatings; ceramic coatings; composite coatings; surface modification; interface engineering
Interests: thin films technology; atomic layer deposition (ALD); plasma processing of materials (plasma polymerization, plasma functionalization); organic semiconductors (semiconducting polymers); nanocomposites (polymer nanocomposites); polymer physics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The rapid growth of renewable energy technologies, electric vehicles and portable electronics has significantly increased the global demand for efficient and reliable energy storage systems. Among various technologies, rechargeable batteries—particularly lithium-ion, sodium-ion and emerging solid-state batteries—play a critical role in enabling the transition toward sustainable energy infrastructures. However, several challenges remain, including limited cycle life, interfacial instability, safety concerns and performance degradation under demanding operating conditions. Addressing these issues requires innovative materials and advanced surface engineering strategies that can enhance battery durability, efficiency and stability.
In recent years, functional coatings and thin-film technologies have emerged as powerful tools to improve the electrochemical performance of battery components. Surface coatings applied to electrodes, separators and current collectors can regulate interfacial reactions, suppress undesirable side reactions, improve ionic and electronic transport and enhance structural stability during repeated charge–discharge cycles. Advances in nanostructured coatings, hybrid materials and interface engineering offer new opportunities to design high-performance batteries with improved safety, longer lifetimes and higher energy density. Consequently, research in functional coating technologies for battery applications has become increasingly important for both academic research and industrial implementation.
This Special Issue aims to present the most recent advances related to functional coating technologies and thin-film surface engineering for advanced battery systems. We welcome contributions addressing the design, synthesis, characterization and application of innovative coatings that enhance the electrochemical performance, stability and safety of battery materials and devices.
Topics of interest for publication include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Functional thin-film coatings for lithium-ion, sodium-ion and solid-state batteries
- Protective coatings for cathode, anode and separator materials
- Interface engineering and surface modification strategies for battery components
- Nanostructured, ceramic, polymeric and hybrid coatings for energy storage systems
- Coatings for improving electrochemical stability, safety and cycle life
- Advanced deposition techniques for battery coatings (ALD, CVD, PVD, sol–gel, sputtering, etc.)
- Carbon-based and conductive coatings for enhanced charge transport
- Coatings for suppressing dendrite formation and side reactions
- Characterization techniques for thin-film coatings and battery interfaces
- Scalable and industrial approaches to coating technologies for battery manufacturing
Dr. Cristina Florentina Ciobota
Dr. Florin Nastase
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 thin-film coatings
- battery interface engineering
- lithium-ion and next-generation batteries
- surface and interface modification
- energy storage materials
- electrochemical performance
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