Metal-Oxide Thin Films and Nanostructured Films: Focus on Energy Applications

Dear Colleagues,

The last two decades have seen a tremendous improvement in thin-film deposition methods and technologies that enable the synthesis of nanostructured surfaces and coatings with nanoscale precision. Today, due to climate change, there is a need to develop new technologies that will enable the transition to more environmentally friendly energy production. However, owing to the intermittence of renewable energies that depend on the weather, sun, duration, and wind, more efficient and reliable energy storage technologies are required. With new developments in the field of thin-film deposition and nanostructured coatings, it is now possible to coat surfaces with complex compositions and synthesize nanocomposites and multilayers, enabling the development of synergistic effects through the mutual interaction of such layers. The deposition of complex structures allows for the development of new technologies in the field of energy production and energy storage.

The development of these new technologies and scaling down the size of the produced devices require accurate control of the deposition process. The latter then allows for tailoring thin films and nanodevices as desired. These recent advances are not only limited to energy production and storage, but are applicable to every field in order to cope with the present demands of society. The last two decades have also witnessed the accelerated development of atomic layer deposition processes that enable the conformal coating at nanoscale to be now up-scalable to larger surface areas. More recently, nanomaterial production (in situ and ex situ synthesis) has been improved to fit with the industrial constraints to enable large-scale production of devices by integrating these nanomaterials and nanocomposites.

This Special Issue will compile recent developments in the field of energy production and energy storage with a focus on metal-oxide thin-film deposition and/or nanostructured thin-film production. The articles presented in this Special Issue will cover various topics, ranging from, but not limited to, the optimization of deposition methods, thin-film preparations, the functionalization of surfaces with targeted applications in the field of energy production, energy storage, batteries, catalysis, electronic devices, and the synthesis of nanostructures via the accurate control of deposition/coating methods, among others.

Prof. Dr. Erwan Rauwel
Prof. Dr. Protima Rauwel
Guest Editors

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• metal-oxide thin films
• nanostructured thin films
• nanomaterials
• nanocomposites
• atomic layer deposition
• chemical vapor deposition
• sputtering
• wet chemistry
• multilayers
• functional thin films
• photovoltaic cells
• batteries
• electrodes
• catalysis
• transistor technology
• optoelectronic