Abstract: Metals across all industries demand anti-corrosion surface treatments and drive a continual need for high-performing and low-cost coatings. Ordered thin films comprising aligned inorganic platelets dispersed in a polyelectrolyte polymer matrix provide a new class of transparent conformal barrier coatings for protection in corrosive atmospheres. For example, films assembled via layer-by-layer deposition, as thin as 90 nm, are shown to reduce copper corrosion rates by >1000× in an aggressive H2S atmosphere. These coatings can provide high-performing anti-corrosion treatment alternatives to costlier, more toxic, and less scalable thin films, such as graphene, hexavalent chromium, or atomic layer deposited metal oxides.

Abstract: Metals across all industries demand anti-corrosion surface treatments and drive a continual need for high-performing and low-cost coatings. Ordered thin films comprising aligned inorganic platelets dispersed in a polyelectrolyte polymer matrix provide a new class of transparent conformal barrier coatings for protection in corrosive atmospheres. For example, films assembled via layer-by-layer deposition, as thin as 90 nm, are shown to reduce copper corrosion rates by >1000× in an aggressive H2S atmosphere. These coatings can provide high-performing anti-corrosion treatment alternatives to costlier, more toxic, and less scalable thin films, such as graphene, hexavalent chromium, or atomic layer deposited metal oxides.

Abstract: Polymer-clay nanocomposites thin film coatings have improved water vapor and oxygen permeability, in addition to improved corrosion resistance, while retaining high transparency, high electrical resistivity, and excellent fire-retardant properties for use as encapsulants for photovoltaic module assemblies and barrier coatings in other photovoltaic applications.

Abstract: The present invention provides a surface modification method that provides beneficial changes in surface properties, can modify a surface to a greater depth than previous methods, and that is suitable for industrial application. The present method comprises applying a thin-film coating to a surface of a substrate, then subjecting the coated surface to an ion beam. The ion beam power pulse heats the coated surface, leading to alloying between the material in the coating and the material of the substrate. Rapid cooling of the alloyed layer after an ion beam pulse can lead to formation of metastable alloys and microstructures not accessible by conventional alloying methods or intense ion beam treatment of the substrate alone.

Abstract: Apparatus and method for detecting, determining, and imaging surface resistance corrosion, thin film growth, and oxide formation on the surface of conductors or other electrical surface modification. The invention comprises a modified confocal resonator structure with the sample remote from the radiating mirror. Surface resistance is determined by analyzing and imaging reflected microwaves; imaging reveals anomalies due to surface impurities, non-stoichiometry, and the like, in the surface of the superconductor, conductor, dielectric, or semiconductor.