Nanocomposite coatings offer a wide range of functionalities for steel industry: aesthetic, superhardness, low friction coefficient, anticorrosion, self-healing, optical filters, hydrophilicity, … Sol-gel techniques are often used to obtain this kind of materials.

Here a hybrid process which combines Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapour Deposition (PECVD) and sputtering  is developed to produce nanocomposite thin films on steel. The work describes the synthesis of layers based on a silica matrix and copper oxide clusters. The influence of some process parameters on the coating composition, such as the precursor flowrate and the power, is evaluated.

This work shows that by using the hybrid process it is possible to manage the quantity of sputtered metal inside a silica-like matrix from a copper or copper oxide film to a pure organosilicon matrix. The thin films are characterized by SEM, X-Ray Fluorescence, X-Ray Diffraction and FTIR measurements.

The process flexibility  could allow us to develop various silica based coatings just by replacing the metallic target with the appropriate one.

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2. NAPOLYDE, an European Integrated Project concerning NAno-structured POLYmer DEposition processes for mass production of innovative systems for energy production & control for smart devices.