Functional Coatings for Thermal Applications: Thermoelectrics and Thermal Management
A special issue of Coatings (ISSN 2079-6412). This special issue belongs to the section "Surface Characterization, Deposition and Modification".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 June 2026 | Viewed by 10
Special Issue Editors
2. Key Laboratory of Eco-Functional Polymer Materials of the Ministry of Education, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou 730070, China
Interests: solution synthesis of semiconductor nanocrystals; thermoelectric nanocomposites; advanced thermal management and flame-retardant nanocomposites
Interests: polymer materials; anti-corrosion coatings; nanocomposites; adhesives; polyurethane elastomers; flame-retardant materials; thermal conductive materials; bio-based materials
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Functional coatings have become essential supporting materials in a wide range of thermal applications, including energy conversion, thermal management, and heat transfer enhancement. This Special Issue will focus on two particularly innovative and impactful categories: thermoelectric coatings, which enable direct conversion between thermal and electrical energy, and thermally functional coatings, which are designed to manage heat flow—whether through insulation, conduction, or dissipation—in high-performance systems.
Thermoelectric coatings offer unique advantages in scalability and integration flexibility, making them suitable for energy harvesting from complex heat sources such as industrial waste heat and vehicle exhausts. Meanwhile, advanced thermal management coatings play critical roles in sustaining performance and reliability in demanding environments including aerospace, power generation, and electronics cooling. Despite rapid progress, challenges remain in materials design, deposition techniques, interfacial engineering, stability, and device integration, among other domains.
This Special Issue invites original research and review articles addressing recent advancements in the science, technology, and applications of coatings for thermal purposes. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Novel materials for thermoelectric and thermal management coatings;
- Advanced deposition and processing techniques;
- Microstructure–property relationships and performance characterization;
- Interface engineering and mechanisms;
- Integration into devices and systems for energy conversion and thermal management;
- Modeling and simulation of heat transfer and conversion processes.
We look forward to receiving your contributions.
Dr. Bingfei Nan
Dr. Chang-An Xu
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 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.
Keywords
- functional coatings
- thermoelectric coatings
- thermal management
- heat transfer
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