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Advances in Functional Thin Films: Fabrication, Properties, and Applications
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Advances in Functional Thin Films: Fabrication, Properties, and Applications

A special issue of Coatings (ISSN 2079-6412). This special issue belongs to the section "Thin Films".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2022) | Viewed by 19016

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Yu-Ching Huang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Materials Engineering, Ming Chi University of Technology, New Taipei City, Taiwan
Interests: organic photovoltaics; organic photodiodes; perovskite solar cells; transparent conductive films; synchrotron radiation; flexible electronics; indoor applications
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The development of thin film science and technology has been widely used in various fields, including energy, optoelectronics, environmental protection, and biomedicine. These applications require very diverse physical, chemical, optoelectronic, mechanical, abrasion, and corrosion resistance properties, which can be achieved by coating functional films on the surface of the substrate. To meet a new application requirement of functional thin film, it is necessary to fully grasp the intrinsic properties of the materials, supplemented by appropriate film fabrication technology. Therefore, the fabrication, properties, and applications of functional thin films are closely related.

This Special Issue on “Advances in Functional Thin Films: Fabrication, Properties, and Applications” will collect new original research and review papers, with special emphasis on the improved properties, innovative fabrication processes, and novel applications of functional thin films. Acceptable topics may include but not be limited to energy, flexible electronics, protective coating, biomedical materials, and other functional thin film applications. We sincerely invited researchers in this field to submit relevant manuscripts to this Special Issue of the journal Coatings.

Prof. Yu-Ching Huang
Guest Editor

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

  • Thin film
  • Fabrication process
  • Application
  • Energy
  • Optoelectronics
  • Flexible
  • Biomedical materials
  • Protective coating
  • Physical property
  • Chemical property

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 5411 KiB  
Article
Research on the Vibration Characteristics of Aviation Hydraulic Clamp and Pipeline Based on Hard Coating
by Zhining Cui, Jiaqi Liu, Xiaoguang Yu, Ziqing Ran, Jingbo Zhang and Xiaolong Zhang
Coatings 2022, 12(2), 132; https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings12020132 - 24 Jan 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2583
Abstract
Aviation hydraulic clamp-piping systems often experience damage due to vibration, which poses a great threat to the reliability and safety of the aircraft. In this paper, a hard coating is used as a new damping method to study the vibration characteristics of aviation [...] Read more.
Aviation hydraulic clamp-piping systems often experience damage due to vibration, which poses a great threat to the reliability and safety of the aircraft. In this paper, a hard coating is used as a new damping method to study the vibration characteristics of aviation hydraulic clamp-piping systems. Three kinds of coated clamp entities are obtained by optimization and preparation, and the combination of finite element simulation and experiment is used to analyze the vibration response of the high- and low-pressure rotor under fixed-frequency simple harmonic excitation, and the resonance response under sweep-frequency excitation of the aviation hydraulic clamp-piping system. Through orthogonal experiments, it is clear that 304 stainless steel clamps coated with 200-μm-thick YSZ-PTFE coating have the best vibration damping effect on the clamp-piping system; that is, the damping rate can reach 24.67% under fixed-frequency excitation, and swept frequency damping can reach 19.93%. The maximum error between the simulation and the experimental vibration response amplitude is 7.9%, which proves the correctness of the model and verifies that the YSZ-PTFE hard coating can significantly improve the vibration damping effect with very good application prospects. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Functional Thin Films: Fabrication, Properties, and Applications)
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15 pages, 6699 KiB  
Article
A Facile Nitriding Approach for Improved Impact Wear of Martensitic Cold-Work Steel Using H2/N2 Mixture Gas in an AC Pulsed Atmospheric Plasma Jet
by Jhao-Yu Guo, Yu-Lin Kuo and Hsien-Po Wang
Coatings 2021, 11(9), 1119; https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings11091119 - 15 Sep 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2656
Abstract
In this study, we propose a rapid plasma-assisted nitriding process using H2/N2 mixture gas in an atmospheric pressure plasma jet (APPJ) system to treat the surface of SKD11 cold-working steel in order to increase its surface hardness. The generated NH [...] Read more.
In this study, we propose a rapid plasma-assisted nitriding process using H2/N2 mixture gas in an atmospheric pressure plasma jet (APPJ) system to treat the surface of SKD11 cold-working steel in order to increase its surface hardness. The generated NH radicals in the plasma region are used to implement an ion-bombardment for nitriding the tempered martensite structure of SKD11 within 18 min to form the functional nitride layer with an increased microhardness around 1095 HV0.3. Higher ratios of H/E and H3/E2 were obtained for the values of 4.514 × 10−2 and 2.244 × 10−2, referring to a higher deformation resistance as compared with the pristine sample. After multi-cycling impact tests, smaller and shallower impact craters with less surface oxidation on plasma-treated SKD11 were distinctly proven to have the higher impact wear resistance. Therefore, the atmospheric pressure plasma nitriding process can enable a rapid thermochemical nitriding process to form a protective layer with unique advantages that increase the deformation-resistance and impact-resistance, improving the lifetime of SKD11 tool steel as die materials. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Functional Thin Films: Fabrication, Properties, and Applications)
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8 pages, 2949 KiB  
Article
PVC Detection through a Hybrid SEIRA Substrate and Refractive Index Sensor Based on Metamaterial Perfect Absorbers
by Chieh-Ting Lin, Ta-Jen Yen and Tsung-Yu Huang
Coatings 2021, 11(7), 789; https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings11070789 - 30 Jun 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 4841
Abstract
Simultaneous surface enhanced infrared absorption (SEIRA) with Fano resonance and refractive index (RI) sensing are proposed via a split-ring-resonator-based metamaterial perfect absorber (MPA) to detect polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a commonly used polymer but one that was recently prohibited in many areas such as [...] Read more.
Simultaneous surface enhanced infrared absorption (SEIRA) with Fano resonance and refractive index (RI) sensing are proposed via a split-ring-resonator-based metamaterial perfect absorber (MPA) to detect polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a commonly used polymer but one that was recently prohibited in many areas such as Europe. This bifunctional sensor could provide a label-free and qualitative PVC detection through SEIRA coupled to the vibration mode and a quantitative measurement through RI sensing. To design the MPA, the main operating frequency is targeted at 615 cm−1 for C-Cl bond of PVC. Transition from a reflectance dip to a peak, i.e., Fano resonance was observed at y polarization in both simulation and experiments, evidencing the existence of PVC. On the other hand, to test the RI sensing ability of the MPA, different RI (from 1 to 1.5) of analytes and different thicknesses (from 109 to 1050 nm) of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) were applied to the MPA in simulation and experiments, respectively. The simulated sensitivities are 4045 and 2361 nm/RIU for the first and third modes of the MPA, respectively, while the measured sensitivities based on PMMA are 3713 and 1694 nm/RIU. Overall, the detection limit of PVC could be down to 0.5% in experiments, which outweighs the current measurement limit of 10% through infrared absorption measurement. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Functional Thin Films: Fabrication, Properties, and Applications)
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13 pages, 26461 KiB  
Article
Effect of Thicknesses of Liquid Crystal Layers on Shift of Resonance Frequencies of Metamaterials
by Wei-Fan Chiang, Shih-Xuan Lin, Yong-Xuan Lee, Yu-Han Shih, Jih-Hsin Liu, Harry-Miyosi Silalahi, Chia-Rong Lee and Chia-Yi Huang
Coatings 2021, 11(5), 578; https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings11050578 - 15 May 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2127
Abstract
A liquid crystal (LC) layer that is too thick exhibits a small terahertz birefringence due to the limited long-range force of the alignment layers that exert on it. An LC layer that is too thin has a small terahertz birefringence due to its [...] Read more.
A liquid crystal (LC) layer that is too thick exhibits a small terahertz birefringence due to the limited long-range force of the alignment layers that exert on it. An LC layer that is too thin has a small terahertz birefringence due to its invisibility to incident terahertz waves. Therefore, an LC layer may have a large terahertz birefringence at a specific thickness. It is well known that the birefringence of an LC layer dominates the shift of the resonance frequency of the metamaterial imbedded into the LC layer. As a result, this work studies the effect of the thicknesses of LC layers on the shift of the resonance frequencies of metamaterials. LC layers with various thicknesses ranging from 310 µm to 1487 µm are deposited on terahertz metamaterials, and each of the layers is aligned by two polyimide layers that are rubbed in a direction. The terahertz metamaterials have a maximum frequency shifting range of 21 GHz as 710 µm thick LC layers with mutually orthogonal rubbing directions are deposited on them. The maximum frequency shifting range arises from the competition between the long-range force of the polyimide layers and the interaction between the LC layers and their incident terahertz waves. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Functional Thin Films: Fabrication, Properties, and Applications)
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8 pages, 1642 KiB  
Article
Passively Tunable Terahertz Filters Using Liquid Crystal Cells Coated with Metamaterials
by Wei-Fan Chiang, Yu-Yun Lu, Yin-Pei Chen, Xin-Yu Lin, Tsong-Shin Lim, Jih-Hsin Liu, Chia-Rong Lee and Chia-Yi Huang
Coatings 2021, 11(4), 381; https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings11040381 - 26 Mar 2021
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2047
Abstract
Liquid crystal (LC) cells that are coated with metamaterials are fabricated in this work. The LC directors in the cells are aligned by rubbed polyimide layers, and make angles θ of 0°, 45°, and 90° with respect to the gaps of the split-ring [...] Read more.
Liquid crystal (LC) cells that are coated with metamaterials are fabricated in this work. The LC directors in the cells are aligned by rubbed polyimide layers, and make angles θ of 0°, 45°, and 90° with respect to the gaps of the split-ring resonators (SRRs) of the metamaterials. Experimental results display that the resonance frequencies of the metamaterials in these cells increase with an increase in θ, and the cells have a maximum frequency shifting region of 18 GHz. Simulated results reveal that the increase in the resonance frequencies arises from the birefringence of the LC, and the LC has a birefringence of 0.15 in the terahertz region. The resonance frequencies of the metamaterials are shifted by the rubbing directions of the polyimide layers, so the LC cells coated with the metamaterials are passively tunable terahertz filters. The passively tunable terahertz filters exhibit promising applications on terahertz communication, terahertz sensing, and terahertz imaging. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Functional Thin Films: Fabrication, Properties, and Applications)
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11 pages, 2963 KiB  
Article
Reinforcement of Epoxy Resin by Additives of Amine-Functionalized Graphene Nanosheets
by Tung-Yuan Yung, Yu-Chun Lu, Jeng-Shiung Chen, Yu-Wei Cheng, Ting-Yu Liu and Po-Tuan Chen
Coatings 2021, 11(1), 35; https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings11010035 - 31 Dec 2020
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 3703
Abstract
In this study, graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets were modified with an amine functional group to obtain amine-functionalized graphene (AMG) nanosheets and then blended with the aniline curing agent of bisphenol-A (BPA) epoxy resin to crosslink BPA epoxy resin. The AMG-blended curing agent and [...] Read more.
In this study, graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets were modified with an amine functional group to obtain amine-functionalized graphene (AMG) nanosheets and then blended with the aniline curing agent of bisphenol-A (BPA) epoxy resin to crosslink BPA epoxy resin. The AMG-blended curing agent and BPA epoxy resin formed an intermolecular hydrogen bond that was stronger than the π–π stacking force between benzene rings of graphene nanosheets. Therefore, AMG nanosheets exhibited excellent dispersion in the aniline curing agent. The amine group of AMG-blended curing agents and the epoxy functional group of BPA epoxy resin exhibited strong chemical activity and underwent crosslinking and polymerization. AMG nanosheets were mixed with BPA epoxy resin to form a crosslinked structure through the epoxy ring-opening polymerization of the resin. The mechanical properties of the epoxy resin nanocomposites were significantly improved by the added 1 wt.% AMG nanosheets. The tensile strength was enhanced by 98.1% by adding 1 wt.% AMG in epoxy. Furthermore, the impact resistance of the epoxy resin was enhanced by 124.4% after adding 2.67 wt.% of AMG nanosheets. Compared with other reinforced fillers, AMG nanosheets are very light and can therefore be used as nanocomposite materials in coating applications, the automotive industry, aerospace sheet materials, wind power generation, and other fields. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Functional Thin Films: Fabrication, Properties, and Applications)
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