Advances in Oxide Thin Films and Nanostructures

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to invite you to submit your contributions to this Special Issue of Coatings, “Advances in Oxide Thin Films and Nanostructures”, which aims to publish pioneering studies in the field.

Oxide materials have gained importance in recent years with a wide variety of uses, including solar energy, photocatalytic degradation, solar hydrogen production, and electronic applications. Tunable electronic and optical properties of these materials obtained by in situ and post-treatments, such as doping and annealing, made them favorable. Furthermore, the morphology of these materials can easily be manipulated by controlling the synthesis parameters. Therefore, 0D, 1D, and 3D nanostructures can be synthesized via both physical and chemical deposition techniques. Additionally, defects in these materials play an important role in their optical, electrical, and catalytic performance. For example, oxygen vacancy-rich titanium dioxide and zinc oxides, which are called black TiO₂ and ZnO, have seen increasing attention due to their unique optical properties and their ability to absorb light not only in UV, but also in the visible region.

Two-dimensional (2D) metal oxides are also very attractive due to their abundant unsaturated dangling bonds on the surface or along the edges, thus inducing high activity and high-energy surfaces. Therefore, it is important for many applications to develop production methods for 2D metal oxides that are reproducible, cost-effective, and applicable to large surface areas. Memristive devices are another very interesting application field of metal oxides. Memristive anodic oxides and redox-based memristive devices are the keys to memories, logic applications, and neuromorphic systems in modern nanoelectronics and information technology. Graphene oxide, another fascinating family of oxide materials, can be used in a broad range of application fields including field-effect transistors, sensors, energy devices, and water treatment. Nanocomposites of this material with inorganic nanoparticles and polymers are also used in a wide range of applications. Oxides are also favorable in superconductor and quantum applications, such as quantum computing and communication areas. Therefore, it is possible to say that thin film and nanostructures of oxide materials are at the center of cutting-edge technologies.

In this Special Issue, we aim to make a compilation of such innovative and cutting-edge technological applications and the production and characterization of oxide materials. Therefore, this issue addresses a wide perspective on oxide materials, including (but not limited to) the advances in the topics listed below:

• Morphology and size control in the oxide materials;
• Advanced characterization and manipulation of defects in the oxide materials;
• Oxides for photoelectrochemical and photocatalytic water splitting;
• Oxides for energy conversion and storage;
• 2D metal oxides;
• Semiconductor and superconductor oxides;
• Oxides for electronic and quantum applications.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Nurdan Demirci Sankir
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.

• 2D metal oxides
• graphene oxide
• black TiO₂
• perovskite-type oxides
• transition metal oxides
• energy conversion and storage
• solar water splitting and water treatment
• electronic and quantum applications