Functional Coatings and Surface Technologies for Paper, Printing and Packaging Applications

Dear Colleagues,

Functional coatings and surface technologies transform conventional paper into value‑added substrates for printing and packaging by tailoring surface chemistry, morphology, and barrier performance. These modifications enable improved printability, print quality, barrier protection, mechanical durability, and new functionalities (e.g., antimicrobial, conductive, responsive surfaces) that extend the applications of paper beyond traditional uses. Research on functional coatings and surface technologies for paper, printing and packaging lies at the intersection between materials science, surface engineering and sustainability. Advancements in this field enable paper manufacturers to meet modern performance demand, i.e., high-quality printing, robust barrier protection, and added active functions, while preserving environmental advantages, making it a strategically important area for both science and industrial innovation.

The Special Issue focuses on advancing functional coatings and surface engineering technologies that enhance the performance, sustainability, and versatility of paper‑based materials used in printing and packaging. Its core aim is to gather high‑quality research that develops or explains.

• Barrier, protective, and active coatings that improve resistance to moisture, grease, oxygen, chemicals, abrasion, or microbial contamination.
• Surface treatments that optimize printability, adhesion, colour reproduction, and compatibility with modern printing systems.
• Bio‑based, recyclable, and environmentally compatible coating systems that support circular packaging and reduce reliance on plastics.
• Novel surface functionalities such as conductivity, sensing, anti‑counterfeiting, or smart and interactive behaviour.
• Process innovations in coating formulation, deposition, curing, and characterization.

This Special Issue aims to combine materials science, surface engineering, printing technology, and packaging science, encouraging contributions that demonstrate how coatings can transform paper from a passive substrate into a high‑performance, multifunctional material.

The scope of this Special Issue includes, but is not limited to, the following topics:

• Barrier coatings—moisture, oxygen, grease, aroma, and microbial barriers for paper and paperboard.
• Printability and surface engineering—primers, overprint varnishes, surface energy tuning, ink–substrate interactions for offset, flexo, gravure, and digital printing.
• Sustainable and recyclable chemistries—bio‑based polymers, waterborne systems, compostable, and recycling‑compatible coatings.
• Nanocomposites and hybrid multilayers—nanofillers, layered architectures, clay/nanocellulose/graphene reinforcements, and ultrathin multilayer strategies.
• Functional and smart surfaces—antimicrobial, antistatic, conductive, thermochromic, photochromic, and sensing coatings; anti‑counterfeiting and interactive features.
• Barrier testing and performance characterization—standardized and novel methods for oxygen, water vapor, grease, aroma, and microbial barrier evaluation.
• Surface modification technologies—plasma, corona, and UV/EB treatments; calendaring; and chemical grafting to tailor adhesion and wettability.
• Coating formulation and additives—binders, pigments, crosslinkers, rheology modifiers, slip/anti‑blocking agents, and migration/food‑contact considerations.
• Deposition and processing methods—roll‑to‑roll, slot‑die, gravure, curtain, spray, and pilot/industrial-scale coating techniques, and curing strategies (thermal, UV, EB).
• Compatibility with printing workflows—interactions with aqueous, solvent, UV, and toner/digital inks; drying/curing kinetics and print durability.
• Life‑cycle, recyclability and end‑of‑life assessment—recycling compatibility, deinking, composability, and life‑cycle analysis of coated paper systems.
• Scale‑up, pilot studies and industrial case studies—techno‑economic assessments, pilot trials, and real‑world implementation reports.
• Modelling and simulation—transport phenomena, coating rheology, film formation, and structure–property predictive models.
• Regulatory, safety and food‑contact issues—migration testing, regulatory compliance, and safety assessment for packaging applications.
• Novel characterization techniques—advanced microscopy, spectroscopy, surface energy mapping, and in situ monitoring of coating processes.

Dr. Klemen Možina
Dr. Urška Vrabič-Brodnjak
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.

• functional coatings
• barrier coatings
• surface modification
• print quality assessment
• sustainable coatings