The automotive industry is a pioneer in solutions that meet market expectations. However, the industry, some less environmentally friendly technologies are still used, such as electroplating. Due to legislative restrictions several countries, thin coatings made vacuum have been replacing traditionally by electroplating, mainly decorative terms. This work more focused on use of these for optical...

Strict protection of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) and other optoelectronic materials from direct contact with ambient moisture and oxygen is one of the major challenges in the development of flexible OLED displays and other flexible electronic devices. This problem is typically addressed by the use of polymeric substrates with multilayered barrier coatings comprising alternating organi...

Ureteral stents are commonly used following urological procedures to maintain ureteral patency. However, alongside the benefits of the device, indwelling stents frequently cause significant patient discomfort (pain, urgency, frequency) and can become encrusted and infected. The importance of these sequelae is that they are not only bothersome to the patient but can lead to significant morbidity...

Surface modification treatments able to confer antistain/antibacterial properties to natural or synthetic materials are receiving increasing attention among scientists. Ion beam co-sputtering (IBS) of zinc oxide (ZnO) and poly-tetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) targets allows for the preparation of novel multifunctional coatings composed of antimicrobial ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) finely dispersed in an a...

The design of an instrument capable of opto-mechanical studies of the rheology of viscoelastic polymeric fluids near solid interfaces is described. The instrument probes the ‘meso-scale’ (length scales of O(μm)) and bridges the gap between molecular-scale devices such as the Surface Force Apparatus (SFA) and conventional rheometers. The high viscosity materials and intermediate length scales pr...

Over the last ten years a new trend of research activities regarding the flame retardancy of polymeric materials has arisen. Indeed, the continuous search for new flame retardant systems able to replace the traditional approaches has encouraged alternative solutions, mainly centred on nanotechnology. In this context, the deposition of nanostructured coatings on fabrics appears to be the most ap...