Nanoscale ceramic coatings

Ceramic coatings on fibers and powders have a variety of uses. For example, porous ceramic coatings on nanoscale metallic or ceramic particles can improve the catalytic properties of a powder. Also, the carbon fibers used as reinforcement in metallic matrices can be coated with a thin ceramic film (such as SiC or TiN) to reduce the rate of interdiffusion that may occur between the matrix materials and the fibers, and enhance the wetting of the fiber surface by metals. ... 

M. Alamgir prepared a separator, named safety reinforcing separator (SRS), whose surface was coated with nanoscale ceramic particles [15]. When this separator was heated to 150 °C for 1 h, its shrinkage was very small, while the conventional polyethylene separator shrunk drastically under the same conditions. 

Hybrid polymer silica nanocomposites formed from various combinations of silicon alkoxides and polymers to create a nanoscale admixture of silica and organic polymers constitute a class of composite materials with combined properties of polymers and ceramics. They are finding increasing applications in protective coatings (Figure 7.1), optical devices, photonics, sensors and catalysis.1... 

In the same year, 1986, the ormocers were presented to the public. These coatings are sprayed in a thickness of nm onto window glass and darken this when the sun shines on it. In the 1990s, these nanoscale powders were also used in silicate ceramics applied to tiles, sanitaryware and tableware articles or roofing tiles, they make sure that dirt particles caimot attache themselves to the surface. Special compositions even have an anti-bacterial effect. 

A general approach to prepare hollow spheres of ceramic materials with func-tionaUzed interior surface has also been reported [121]. The onter surfaces of the templating PS beads are first coated with submonolayers of silver nanoparlicles, and they are assembled into a three-dimensional crystalline lattice. The beads are then coated with a titania layer. After the PS beads are dissolved in toluene, uniform hollow spheres are generated, with their interior surfaces being functionalized with the silver nanoparticles. Meanwhile, silver nanoparticles can be selectively removed using another wet etchant to produce an array of nanosized cavities on the interior surface of the hollow sphere. These nanoscale cavities may have functionality similar to that of the nanoscale template, as demonstrated in the area of molecular imprinting [122,123]. 

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