Analytical Characterization of Functionalized Surfaces

Dear Colleagues,

New materials have been among the greatest achievements of every decade, because they are essential to the growth, prosperity, security, and quality of life of humans and cultural heritage since the beginning of history. New materials always initiate new technologies, whether they be in civil, chemical, construction, nuclear, aeronautical, agricultural, mechanical, biomedical, art and culture or electrical engineering.

Cultural Heritage (CH), both tangible and intangible, natural and manmade, or movable and immovable, connects us to future generations—explaining the current trend toward further studies and research to better understand the dynamic relationship between heritage conservation and the various materials and development of nondestructive testing in engineering.

This Special Issue is open to new advances in nondestructive testing of materials surface in different areas, including:

• Chemical composition of the materials surface/interface: thin layers)
  - Nature of the elements : SEM-EDS, XRF, XPS-ESCA, ToF-SIMS, TEM-EDS;
  - Elementary chemical analysis to identify compounds, or X-Ray diffraction;
• Molecular analysis : ToF-SIMS, FTIR, RAMAN
  - Low concentrations detection : ToF-SIMS, XRF;
  - Concentration (profiles (nm–µm)): XPS, SEM-EDS, GC-MS, GC/MS/MS, HPLC/MS/MS;
  - Chemical state of the elements: chemical bonding, functional groups, oxidation state: ToF-SIMS, XPS, FTIR, RAMAN;
• Position of the elements (or locating the elements):
  - Lateral: chemical mapping: SEM EDS, ToF-SIMS, XPS, RAMAN, TEM-EDS
  - In depth profiles: XPS, ToF-SIMS, EDS on the edge

These methods are useful for material characterization, and surface analysis can be used to assess weathering and deterioration effects on stone monuments and buildings of cultural heritage, detect defects invisible on the surface, estimate the depth of cracks, as well as for the characterization and structure of materials, corrosion, coating, and protection of materials and implications of nanomaterials in restoration technology.

Prof. Rodica-Mariana Ion
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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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. Materials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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.

• analytical methods
• surface
• nanomaterials
• conservation/restoration
• cultural heritage
• composition
• structure
• morphology