Dear Colleagues,

It is a great pleasure to invite you to contribute your original research to this Special Issue on “Trends and Prospects in Nanoscale Thin Films and Coatings” focused on the preparation, characterization, properties, and applications of nanoscale thin films and coatings. In recent years, nanoscale thin films and coatings have found extensive application across many fields due to their unique optical, electrical, thermal, and mechanical properties, which substantially differ from bulk properties.

This Special Issue aims to share recent achievements and new challenges in the field of nanomaterial science, engineering and nanotechnology, paying particular attention to the relationship between advanced fabrication, properties, applications, and physical–chemical characteristics. We welcome studies relating to experimental, theoretical, computational, or other applications of nanomaterials ranging from hard (inorganic) materials, through soft (polymeric and biological) materials, to hybrid materials or nanocomposites, including novel preparation and assembly methodologies, and industrially scalable techniques.

Subject areas include (but are by no means limited to):

• Nanoparticles, nanocrystals, colloids, sols, and quantum dots;
• Self-assemblies and directed assemblies (of moledules and nanoparticles);
• Films, membranes, and coatings;
• Nanotubes, nanowires, nanofibers, nanorods, and nanobelts;
• Nanoporous, mesoporous, and microporous materials;
• Hierarchical structures and molecular–particle networks;
• Surface and interface sciences and engineering;
• Inorganic–organic hybrids or nanocomposites;
• Nanoceramics, metals, and alloys;
• Nanomaterials (atomic, molecular, and bulk) characterization techniques.

Areas of nanomaterials engineering and applications include (but are not limited to):

• Catalysis, gas/liquid separations, and membrane reactors;
• Energy conversion and storage devices/systems such as fuel cells and solar cells;
• Electronics, photonics, and magnetics;
• Sensors;
• Medical, biological, and drug development;
• Environmental, building, transportation, telecommunications, and food technologies;
• Nuclear, aerospace, military, and national defense/security technologies;
• Chemical, petrochemical, and pharmaceutical technologies.

Dr. Silvia Armini
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. Nanomaterials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2900 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.

• self-assembled molecular films
• ALD/CVD
• thin films
• bottom-up fabrication
• atomic-scale processing
• nanotechnology
• smart materials
• nanomaterials
• membranes