Direct Fabrication of a Copper RTD over a Ceramic-Coated Stainless-Steel Tube by Combination of Magnetron Sputtering and Sol-Gel Techniques.

Reducing the economic and environmental impact of industrial process may be achieved by the smartisation of different components. In this work, tube smartisation is presented via direct fabrication of a copper (Cu)-based resistive temperature detector (RTD) on their outer surfaces. The testing was carried out between room temperature and 250 °C.

Superhydrophobic and oleophobic microtextured aluminum surface with long durability under corrosive environment.

Superhydrophobic (SHP) and oleophobic aluminum surfaces have been prepared through the combination of a scalable chemical microtexturing process and surface functionalization with long-chained polyfluoroalkyl moieties. The effect of an anodic layer on the microtextured surface has been assessed considering surface morphology, superhydrophobicity, surface mechanical properties and corrosion protection enhancement. The surface functionalization with polyfluoroalkyl moieties has been tackled in two different ways: (i) grafting of the polyfluoroalkyl moieties and (ii) deposition of a thin hybrid coating with low content of polyfluoroalkyl-containing compound.

Antireflective mesoporous silica coatings by optimization of water content in acid-catalyzed sol-gel method for application in glass covers of concentrated photovoltaic modules.

Porous silica layers with outstanding antireflective properties have been prepared by acid-catalyzed sol-gel process in presence of organic phases as structure directing agents (SDA) and excess water, with the aim of offering a cost-competitive, easy up-scaling and high efficiency process that contributes to reduce current levelized cost of energy (LCOE) of concentrating photovoltaics (CPV). The process has been optimized by controlling the water/alkoxide ratio, which is an important structure-regulating tool, having a strong influence in the structural properties of sol-gel synthesized materials. Hydrolysis of the inorganic precursor has been accomplished in high water/alkoxide conditions and in the presence of SDAs.